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Kotiliesi article
I got two copies of the Kotiliesi with my article in it. The article is mentioned in the cover (“The best family games”) and it’s four pages long. Pictures are mostly about classics like Monopoly, Scrabble and Afrikan tähti. There’s a picture of yours truly with a pile of better games (Puerto Rico, Amun-Re, Alhambra,…
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Few games coming my way
I ordered Attika and Finstere Flure today (from Spielenet, I got an offer to join an order so large there are no shipping costs). Attika was a must-buy, while deciding over FF took a while. It’s cool theme and neat mechanics combined with a reasonably low price made the decision quite easy in the end.
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Flaschenteufel translation
I wrote a Finnish translation for Flaschenteufel. It’s available in HTML and PDF formats. Oops! I just figured out (thanks to Mark Blanco’s geeklist) that I’ve got an essential rule wrong. Players do not score all the points they gathered as negative points, just the Imp’s Trick. Now that’s a mistake…
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Perfect Box
I’ve found the perfect card game box: Drahtseilakt box (the game’s published by ASS) is exactly large enough to hold the cards with protectors and the scoring sticks. Brilliant. Bambus Spieleverlag boxes are also pretty good, they hold at least two games (especially as Bambus games I have have so few cards). So I can…
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Top Speed
I wrote a review of Top Speed (in Finnish). Here’s what I wrote in Boardgamegeek: Top Speed is a brilliant little game. It’s somewhat of a sequel to Staupe’s earlier Speed, which I haven’t played. Can’t say which one is faster, but at least Top Speed is really fast. The concept is simple. Players have…
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HelCon II — Sunday
Sunday began with a game of Tom Tube against Ville, who hadn’t played before. I won the game with a single point — it was very exciting and close match. I like the game, definitely. During that game, more people arrived and Mikko K. joined us. I wanted to try Flaschenteufel (one of the Essen…
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HelCon II — Saturday
Saturday was the first day of HelCon II. We got up early, packed the car and headed towards the location. Which was quite nice, really! For once the space was open and had windows and even the bathrooms were quite clean. Of course, there was the limitation that all gaming must end before the alarm…
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HelCon II — Friday
I started the HelCon II experience on Friday. The event began Saturday, but I since I was coming from a longer distance, arriving on Friday was a good idea so I could meet Tommy and Laura sooner. Evening was well spent at the Ryytty residence, filled with games, food, sauna and idle chatter. They had…
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Costikyan on Chess
Something quick before I start on the HelCon session reports: Greg Costikyan has written an excellent article on Chess and game design. All I can say is read it — it’s worth the while.