Take The Game of Life. Now make it not suck. This is the sales pitch for The Pursuit of Happiness, which is now on Kickstarter. From what I’ve seen, this looks like it could be a real winner.
board games
T.I.M.E Stories Review
T.I.M.E Stories puts you and your friends in charge of protecting the space time continuum. Easy as pie, right? You’ll do this by traveling to different periods in time where a disturbance is sensed and putting a stop to whomever is trying to muck with history.
The base game features one episode that takes place in a 1920s insane asylum. Other episodes can be purchased separately as expansions. While the replay of the base game will be an immediate flag for some – as there’s only about six hours of gameplay to be had before you’ve exhausted its replay value – does it do something within that time to make you buy into its vision?
Betrayal at House on the Hill Review
For a game with a fairly rigid progression, it has a lot of smart mechanisms to keep things fresh, from a house that randomly generates each time you play, to 50 different scenarios that occur once the betrayer reveals their true colours. Are these enough to keep you coming back to a house where death for some is inevitable? Continue reading
My 2016 Outlook for Video Games, Board Games and Comic Books
Happy New Year!
2015 was cool, but that’s in the past now and we have a new year to look forward to. This is going to be a monumental year for me, as Steff and I are set to get married(!). However, for the purposes of this post, let’s keep the focus on video games, board games and comic books. What are my thoughts on the year ahead?
Board Game Night Playlist: Old Mainstream Board Games
The likes of Monopoly, Life and Candyland define a very specific part of my childhood. These were the games that introduced me to tabletop gaming and admittedly, I had a lot of fun playing them back in the day. However, as with almost every game of this ilk, its appeal wore off as I grew up and realized that these games weren’t very good.
Now that I’ve immersed myself in the genre, it’s easy (and board game hipster of me) to simply dismiss anything coming from Hasbro or Mattel as garbage. Some of these old games that have a mainstream retail presence at stores like Walmart or Toys R Us are – and have always been – good. If you’re looking to take part in a game night with old mainstream games that you can pick up anywhere, try these!
Underneath My Christmas Tree: 2015 Edition
Merry belated Christmas everyone! Hope the holiday season has been good to you. It was a hectic one for Steff and I, as we drove up and down Ontario in order to participate in the holiday festivities with all four sides of our families. During that time, gifts were exchanged, and I hope I brought smiles to those on my list in the same way that they made me smile with everything given to me. Thank you all!
Not that I don’t like them, but I’ll leave the non-nerdy stuff aside for this post. Let’s talk about all the nerdy stuff I got!
Pandemic Legacy Added to the List of Awesome Board Games You Should Play
For the past month or so, my board gaming group have been playing Pandemic Legacy. Unlike classic Pandemic, where the world resets after each game, Pandemic Legacy takes players on a disease-fighting adventure that spans a year of time in the game world. Every decision in the game is permanent, as stickers are used make adjustments to character cards and boards, cards are required to be ripped up, and characters can even die if they get unlucky.
We’re not done yet, but the experience so far has been stellar. I didn’t play enough of the 2015 crop of board games to name a definitive game of the year, though this one squeaks by Codenames as my personal pick. Steer clear if you haven’t played classic Pandemic yet. However, if you have, what are you waiting for?!
Check out the list of Awesome Board Games You Should Play!
Wishing You a Merry Christmas!
While you’re busy opening gifts from Santa, I hope you find a place in your heart to give back beyond the gifts you’ve given your family and friends. One charity I donate to every year during the holiday season is Child’s Play. This year, I donated a copy of The Book of Life to my local children’s hospital, which I hope brings a few smiles to children who could really use the extra cheer. If it’s not Child’s Play, there are a number of other worthy causes worth your support. This is certainly a time of receiving, but don’t forget that the giving part is important too!
Spyfall Review
From The Resistance to Werewolf, ferreting out the bad seeds in a group is not a new concept. However, deduction games of this style continue to make waves by adding meaningful twists to the core formula. Spyfall by Cryptozoic does this in a way that’s extremely tense for everyone sitting at the table.
The Rise of Licensed Board Games
Before hitting my teen years, I learned the hard way as a video game player to be wary of licensed products. While the allure of playing video games about Batman, The Simpsons or Home Alone (shudder) is clear, the final products were mostly terrible. Quality of the final product usually wasn’t a priority, as publishers and license holders primarily created licensed video games as a promotional tool and as a means of making a quick buck off of unsuspecting gamers. I wasn’t really following board games at the time, though I did own a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles board game that wasn’t great in hindsight.
Of late, video games and board games have diverged greatly when it comes to licensed products. With the rising costs of video game development and a savvier audience who are far less likely to put up with mediocre products with name recognition, most licensed games nowadays reside on mobile platforms as free-to-play experiences. Board games, on the other hand, are going in the other direction. Instead of cranking out garbage games for kids, more license holders and publishers are taking the time to make quality games that gamers of all ages will want to buy. Off the strength of this business strategy, everyone wins. Continue reading
In Third Person 