So I almost never post anymore, but when I do it's in list form. I've lived in Cincinnati for almost a decade now, and we move in 2 weeks to Charleston, SC. Before we go, for those of you who might visit fair Cincinnati in the future, here's all the best stuff [that I'm an expert in, which isn't much ( Read more... )

Today I wanted to muse about my changing experiences with two games over the last decade. In the last 10-20 years, there have only been two games that I've played with any real consistency: the collectable card game Magic: the Gathering (Magic/MtG) and the online role-playing game Kingdom of Loathing (KoL ( Read more... )

Crayon Rail games are the next that I am going to examine. There aren't very many of them, so let me list them all up front: there's the original 8-game Crayon Railway series from Mayfair Games (Empire Builder [i.e. USA Rails], Iron Dragon [i.e. Fantasy Rails], Australian Rails, British Rails, China Rails, EuroRails, India Rails, Martian Rails); ( Read more... )

Commodity Speculation is the next mechanic I'm going to examine. It is usually one of the central mechanics of a game, and is often paired up with Set Collection and/or Auction/Bidding ( Read more... )

So here we go again, with another longer topic: Cooperative Play (a.k.a. Co-op) games. Now, just for the record, before we get started, co-op doesn't mean “secret teams” (e.g. Werewolf, Battlestar Galactica, etc.) Co-op means that everyone (or almost everyone) is really, truly on the same side ( Read more... )

Expecting a year-end review? Sorry. My gaming year ends April 1, for no good reason. Instead, have a boring entry about cardboard ( Read more... )

Next, one of my favorite mechanics: Card Drafting. The basic concept would be simple, except that “Card Drafting” can mean several different things ( Read more... )

So here's an interesting, newer mechanic: Battle Card-Driven games. It's almost exclusively a war game mechanic, but has recently started bleeding over into other genres, particularly political simulations ( Read more... )

Time for a comparatively simple mechanic: Betting/Wagering. You're going to guess about some outcome/answer, and then bet some amount of currency that you're right. The end ( Read more... )

Escaping movement mechanics for the moment, we reach one of the most popular (or perhaps “overused” is the better word) modern board game mechanics: Auction/Bidding ( Read more... )