Gameblog

Category: More about games

  • Designers write about their games

    It’s always interesting when designers step up and discuss their games. There have been two great examples of that recently: Gathering of Engineers: Daddy, Where Did Havoc Come From?, written by KC Humphrey, the designer of Havoc: The Hundred Years War and the input from Mac Gerdts, the designer of Antike; for example, this thread…

  • Fettnapf

    First of the Essen games reviewed! A Finnish review of Fettnapf is up on the Finnish site. I went to the fair looking for a good Amigo card game. I had tagged Fettnapf and played it the first chance I got. It wasn’t a disappointment, but a rather pleasing little game. It’s basically a game…

  • Through the Desert vs Go

    There’s a long rant at the Game Table about Through the Desert vs Go, where he goes to show that Through the Desert has absolutely nothing to do with Go, and thus the games shouldn’t be compared. I agree — his analysis makes sense. In the ways he describes, Go and Through the Desert have…

  • Dvonn

    After a big silence on the game review front, I wrote two reviews yesterday. The second one was Dvonn. Dvonn is neat, like most of the GIPF series. Well, at least Zèrtz and Yinsh. The games are close to perfection, when it comes to modern abstract board games: the rules are simple, yet the games…

  • Gone Fishing!

    I’ve written a review of Gone Fishing!, in Finnish as usual. I like the game, though it’s clearly best suited for kids and families. For gamer, its appeal is definitely smaller. There’s too much guessing and probably not enough bluffing and strategies for a serious gamer. However, I like the game: it’s pretty, it’s exciting,…

  • Taj Mahal

    Isn’t it funny, when Brian Bankler describes what he sees as the fundamental flaw in Taj Mahal in his article Worst Poker variant ever, he actually describes the very thing I find so attractive in the game? It’s exactly the mechanic where you lose the cards, whether you win the pot or not that makes…

  • Indie role-playing games

    Iain wrote about role-playing games for boardgamers, looking for a role-playing game that would satisfy the needs of a modern Euro boardgamer. He got some suggestions, but I have some as well. This was originally an e-mail to Iain, but as it grew, it became a blog entry. Whee. Anyway, over two years ago I…

  • Railroad Tycoon

    I’ve been wanting to write this for a long time now, but with three or so jobs and other commitments, I just haven’t had the energy or time. I’ll have a lot to say.. But here’s for now: Railroad Tycoon is officially really cool. I’m a fan. Both of Railroad Tycoon, the computer game (I…

  • Architekton

    I was thinking about getting Architekton (as a companion to another small-box Queen game, Turbo Taxi, which is a must-buy for me), but after I read Mary (sodaklady) write about in Gone Gaming: Techniques to Recruit The Non-gamer in Your Home, I’ve changed my mind. Mary’s entry hit my doubts fairly well — I’ll skip…

  • Antiquity is here!

    Antiquity arrived, finally! It had taken a detour, visiting three Tampere post offices when it should’ve come through just two. That’s why I didn’t get it last week… Well, that’s all behind, now I can enjoy having the game around and that’s all that matters. First thoughts: oh, it’s huge! Oh, it’s full of counters!…