I think in its original form, browser based I think, you just had OneShot. But I really enjoyed it. Great to see it mentioned.

The worst thing is even in more expensive cars, like a BMW the interfaces or touch screens feel like operating a touch face from the early 2000. The turning button navigator in BMW felt like a joke to me first time I drove one. Would rather avoid such displays and connect my phone for navigation than use this

Boardgames. You can go all in and Kickstart cool games and buy all the bits and pieces. But actually, board gamers are always in the lookout for players. Therefore you’ll find a big community with lots of games and it is not necessary to have your own games. If you do like to buy though but want to avoid costs, share it with someone. Make it your game. Many you can’t play alone anyway. I wouldn’t mind someone to have no games at all but spend the time with me to play. Your time is the most valuable. And: it is easier to find friends through board gaming than get your friends to play boardgames.

Saturday

We arrived by car and got easy to the parking lot and only waited 20-25 min to catch a bus to the fair. I thought it was quite well organised for such a busy day. First hall we entered was 3. The hall for expert games. It was so damn crowded! The mood was good. People were asking were you found certain games. They sold the Voidfall galactic Box. A statement piece on your shelf.

The app to navigate through the Spiel was well thought out and helpful. Had everything written you needed to know. But can we please talk about the art they used?! AI pics of people playing with too many fingers? Artists are so important to game development and they advertise with bad art? Really puts me off. Use AI but please use it sensibly.

Unconcious mind and Floe - hands on a Kickstarter I backed and want to back was really cool.

Gay Sauna - as they explained to me: a WWII worker placement 😅 I am not a dungeon crawler fan but have people to try it out with. Let’s see if it is just a joke game or fun after all.

Nemesis I saw the prototype for a new one passing by. I am intrigued what new stuff they add after two pretty similar games (in my opinion)

The end I only bought few games, maybe because my main focus where the upcoming kickstarter

Arborea -backed and picked up

Satori - they explained it so nicely and with so much energy. Second game will be played tonight

Bitoku expansion - we finally have sticker for the meeple. Haven’t played yet but the cards which add drama do interest me.

The labours of Hercules - on bgg it has a lot of negative reviews but the art is nice. With the revised rule book it could be fun. Haven’t played yet though.

Radlands - my personal favourite 2 player game. Tower defence with cards. Design a mix of borderlands meets Mad Max

Aeons end - not two players but works really well at 2. coop card game against a nemesis. Multiple expansions available. Many characters and card combinations. This game is a close second in my two player list.

Shadows of Kyoto - a game from emporers4, and I have to admit I like their games. Two player slightly asymmetrical trying to get your spy to your opponent site or try to catch their spy.

Hanamikoji - trying to get the favours on the right site with only four possible turns. Kosmos has it too, and it is language independent, no need to get it from Taiwan if you have better access through them. Geisha‘s road is pretty similar.

Shottentotten - name could be more sensible but a quick to learn Poker with multiple games one plays at the same time

Finally I had the time to play the new games we got at the Spiel

Arborea - 3 this week, 4 games in total. Played with 2 and 4 players. I am so glad I backed it. The mechanics of the game are pretty unique in my collection. Putting workers in but not immediately activating them and hoping they will be pushed further until it is your turn again is exciting and interesting player interaction. The shared resources I like most. I like the idea to produce and if you can’t or don’t want to use them the player is rewarded with points. The owls seem very powerful, hard to get but work nicely if you have your gift set-up up and running. I haven’t tested the rule cards yet, but they could add a little twist to the game. The midnight expansion is cool, need to use the fish more next time.

Satori - from a score board of over 300 we come to max. 40 points. It is cute, shared workers with few possibilities and each time you do a combo you feel like a pro. I like that you can annoy your opponents with evil moves. With 2 players the board is a little bit restricted. Would like to test with more players.

Eleven - well. I am not into sports, the flavour seems nice. The game play is meh, in my opinion. The matches are too fiddly in my opinion. An overlay for the cards with markers to show if a goal was scored would be nice.

Witcher the old world retail edition - I do like the card combo effect. The little links to do combo attacks. The flavour text is loosely webbed into the game. The text reads nicely (German edition). Player dice poker against the other players is like real gambling and as far as I know there is no way to cheat (yet). The end came a bit sudden (2 players). Would like to test with more players.

Drums of war - what a downer. I either don’t understand the game or it really is a lame game. Didn’t like it. Art work is okish.

Bite - cute quick game with high value double sided paper tokens. Easy to learn. Hard to master. A good small game.

After the Spiel, is before the Spiel.

I played my newly purchased Arborea. Kickstarter funded. First game with 4 players. All new to the game. After some rule hiccups we figured out all the little rules quickly. Everyone had fun and liked it. Nice Artwork , good quality, apart from the missing cube and the misprinted inlays.

Hollywood: nice social detuction game. Nice Artwork. Again a with Dutrait art. I have to admit, that his art work pops up everywhere right now.

Wizard: I won. Still believe that the only acceptable way to play this game is with mismatched tricks and first card to the forehead.

Next week I hope I have played all new games

Ich verstehe dein Argument für diesen Fall. Vor allem dann, wenn man schon ein Auto besitzt.

Ob num andere Bevölkerungsgruppen mehr Zeit haben, bezweifel ich, da jeder Tag für jeden 24h hat. Vllt setzen andere auch nur anders ihre Prioritäten. Als Beispiel wünsche ich mir einmal die Woche ein Auto um mir 45 min zu sparen. Allerdings finde ich lohnt sich die Anschaffung nicht, um vermeintlich bequemer an einem Tag die Woche zu sein. Die Zeit, die ich mehr damit verbringen müsste Geld zuverdienen, um mir ein Auto zu leisten, ohne wo anders Abstriche machen zu müssen, ist mir einfach zu schade. Da nutze ich die Zeit lieber, wenn es auch mit den Öffis länger dauert, mich mit was zu beschäftigen, was mir mehr Freude bringt, als Auto zu fahren.

Es muss ja nicht dogmatisch das eine oder andere sein. Wenn es eine separate Busspur gibt, dann lohnt es sich eventuell einen Parkplatz außerhalb zu suchen und dann mit den Öffis den letzten Kilometer zufahren.

Natürlich zahlt man dann eventuell für den Parkplatz und das Ticket, wenn man keine Monatskarte besitzt. Das aber vllt einfach der Preis, den man zahlen muss, statt im Stau zu stehen.

Ich versuche es so Vorwurfs frei auszudrücken wie ich kann: was ist denn ein angemessener Preis, um 1T Auto mit sich zuführen, egal wohin man fahren möchte?

Der Zaubertrick für Öffis in NRW: gönn dir die Mobilitätsgarantie

Taxi, Fernzug, alles ab voraussichtlich 20 min Verspätung. 4-6 Wochen hast du dein Geld zurück.

I am still on a boardgame weekend, but so far I have played this week Root twice. I have never seen the board so dominated by the Lizard Cult. Followed by the Riverfolk. Both players played Root the first time and played each faction really well. The Riverfolk was the perfect car(d) dealer from the start.

Treehouse Diner: cute but one bad decision killed the game for me 🥲

Bitoku: still a cool Game

Temple of Secrets

Fake artist

Wenn in NRW mal wieder der ÖPNV ein Trauerspiel ist, einfach die Mobilitätsgarantie gönnen. Taxi, einreichen und gut ist. Die SWB ist generell recht unzuverlässig. Deswegen einfach jedesmal nutzen.

The week started with

Flamecraft. Still cute. Still like the game.

Thursday a brand new Kickstarter was played:

Voidfall. We only managed 2/3 since it was for all players their first game. Once you get the hang of the game each turn plays smoothly.

Cabo. There is always time for a quick round and the opportunity to play a kamikaze move. And fail miserably.

Fort. Introduced the game to two new groups. Everyone just likes this entry friendly game.

Terraforming Mars. When is the right time to buy into the goals? I still don’t understand it 🥲

Cosmoctopus: a friend got the Kickstarter. Nice engine builder and resource management in mini. Theme looks nice but has really nothing to do with the game play. It is nice, I would play it again but don’t buy it. Keep the heros out: second run. Also a cute Kickstarter. The design is cute, the theme is there. I played the mice and the slime and like both but the mice like a little bit more. Nice coop game. Would play again (also not my game) Root: I love this game so much. But each time I play a different faction. And each time I forget a crucial part of the factions rules. For the first time ever I saw the eerie not go into turmoil. The game is only complete if you own all 3d printed third party extras. It adds soooo much.