Games in some ways, like people, have personalities. Some, like Ticket to Ride, are friendly, fun, and easy to get to know. Others, like Two Rooms and a Boom, are gregarious and a little crazy; if you can handle the energy, they are very entertaining. Some are obtuse and a little intimidating, like a Phil Eklund simulation or a heavy wargame. And some are subtle, reserved, and a little introverted; they don't want to show you everything right away, and if you base your opinion on a first impression, you'll miss what's hidden underneath.
Ridere, ludere, hoc est vivere.
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Congress of Gamers 2016
Every fall there's a little weekend convention in Rockville, Maryland that I've always enjoyed. Hosted at the unassuming Rockville Senior Center, Congress of Gamers features a series of Euro tournaments, an auction store, and a game design room. The Games Club of Maryland sponsored the convention, and Break My Game ran the prototype testing event this year's session, which convened last weekend.
Friday, September 9, 2016
Collaboration
Monday, September 5, 2016
Summer vacation gaming
Our friends gave us access to their beach house in Rodanthe, North Carolina, for a week this summer. For me, the best part of a summer vacation is simply sitting without a care in the world and reading a book or playing a game, and we did plenty of both. I finished three books (including Girls on Games, reviewed in my last post), and we played games every day, including my sons, who are not normally enthusiastic gamers.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Hearing Women Tell It: A Review of "Girls on Games"
At a time when the board game community has become gradually
aware of the unique experiences of women in the hobby, the gently feminist Girls on Games, an anthology on gender
perspective in gaming particularly and in geekdom more generally, successfully
Kickstarted in 2014 with over 900 backers. Elisa Teague - designer of games, events, costumes, and props - compiled 15 essays by women
and a foreword (by a man) and herself wrote six more plus an afterword. She also interleaved “Share My Story
Spotlight” anecdotes by two women, three men, and a girl, plus a poem – or
perhaps a song lyric – by “The Doubleclicks.”
And to read and hear women tell it, despite a consistently optimistic
tone throughout their essays, they experience some ugly behavior in our gaming hobby
– from condescension, to scorn, to challenges to their bona fides as game lovers. After
reading of these experiences, frankly,
I don’t know how they put up with it.
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