board games – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com The best place on earth for nerds. Wed, 04 Jan 2023 17:42:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-nerds_head_thumb2-100x100.png board games – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com 32 32 All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, under one umbrella. We create short run podcasts for nerds, covering D&D, Marvel, Starfinder, and more! You vote for your favorite shows and they just might get a second season. board games – Nerds on Earth false episodic board games – Nerds on Earth jason.sansbury@nerdsonearth.com podcast All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, the best place on Earth for nerds. board games – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/noe-podcast-logo.png https://nerdsonearth.com/blog/ A Look at 3 Superheroic Marvel Themed Board Games https://nerdsonearth.com/2023/01/marvel-themed-board-games/ Wed, 04 Jan 2023 17:42:17 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=38860

Nerds on Earth highlights three great Marvel-themed board games.

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I always have something on the calendar. So, when someone cancels one of those plans, I offer an obligatory, “Oh, that’s too bad. We’ll have to reschedule really soon.”

Then I immediately hoot out a Woot WOOOOT and jump into my jammie britches, because heck yes, I suddenly have myself an evening where I don’t have plans!!

What do I like to do in those bonus evenings in my jammie britches? Well, I like to do nerdy things like organize my comic books or play board games! And my go-to board games are often Marvel-themed.

So, what follows are thoughts on three of those Marvel boards games and why they are great to play in your jammie britches.

Marvel Dice Throne: Yahtzee!

Marvel Dice Throne is a great player vs. player pick up game. Both players select a character that is wholly contained in a meticulously designed plastic tray. Players fold out their play boards and pick up their dice, and there isn’t that much more to it.

Dice Throne is pretty much playing Yahtzee in that you roll 5 dice, keep the ones you want, then do two rounds of re-rolls. Like Yahtzee, three of a kind or whatever get you something, and in the case of Marvel Dice Throne, that something is a cleverly designed power up.

It’s a slickly designed game. I have the full 8 hero box but you can try before you buy at under $30 with a small box that pits Black Widow versus Doctor Strange. Get that here.

Every character comes designed with the same care toward balance, so mix and match Marvel sets with vanilla sets and you can have loads of fun that literally takes merely a few seconds to put playing. Again, start with a little two pack. If you enjoy that, you can jump into the rabbit hole that is Dice Throne.

Marvel United: Follow the Circle

Marvel United from Spinmaster / CMON is a light game that the entire family will enjoy. You can get a fine starter box relatively inexpensively here but the base game is sold at big box stores like Wall-Mart. If you enjoy that, my guess is you’ll be buying expansions or backing the next big Kickstarter before you know it.

Marvel United is a simple game but it is nicely designed. Each player chooses a hero and plays cards in a circular manner. Every three hero turns forces a villain card to be deployed which causes the heroes to scramble. It’s quick to learn and plays fast.

The second Kickstarter was a X-Men themed version and that was an even better experience. it’s not a thinky game, it’s a hoot and holler game that is fun for the entire family.

(Here are my favorite Marvel United X-Men villain scenarios and my favorite heroes.)

Marvel Champions: A Living Card Game

Sometimes Marvel Champions hands your butt to you.

Last is my favorite game on this list, so let’s spend a little more time on it. Marvel Champions from Fantasy Flight Games is a cooperative Living Card Game (LCG) set in the Marvel Comics universe. Players choose a Marvel hero that battles a villain who is controlled by the game. Marvel Champions is supported with regular releases of new hero decks as well as new villain scenarios and their current releases are X-Men themed.

Each hero is played via a deck of cards. The cards outline powers, abilities, and upgrades, which are masterfully drawn from comic book material. The game controls the villain, who schemes, attacks, and deploys minions in an attempt to thwart the players.

Each hero deck has a typical aspect but they can be mix and matched with one of four different aspects: Leadership, Aggression, Justice, and Protection. Captain America’s go-to is Leadership, of course, but you can also swap in the Aggression deck with his core cards when he’s just looking to avenge. The system works incredibly well.

But the most interesting thing of the game is that play switches back and forth between their alter ego and superhero identity.

While all that might feel overwhelming, Marvel Champions is so well designed that it all goes down smooth and is a delight to play. The first thing you want to do after losing a game of Marvel Champions is to immediately play another game of Marvel Champions.

Some players will appreciate the puzzle of it all, which is trying to maximum card values to achieve the greatest possible combos. But most players will simply enjoy that this is a turn and burn game. Hands are played quickly, then drawn up again immediately. It plays fast. So fast, in fact, that a solo player can get in a couple games in an hour once they have the hang of it.

Marvel Champions has rocketed to the top of the charts of my favorite solo board games.

You can get Marvel Champions here, direct from Fantasy Flight Games, or, better yet, ask for it at your Friendly Local Game Shop (FLGS).

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a game of Marvel Champions to play. Spider-Man is battling the Green Goblin tonight.


[Disclosure: Nerds on Earth received a copy of Marvel Champions from Asmodee in exchange for a honest commentary.]

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Top 7 Hottest Board Games of Gen Con 2022 https://nerdsonearth.com/2022/07/top-7-hottest-board-games-of-gen-con-2022/ Sun, 24 Jul 2022 20:45:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=39012

The Origins Game Fair is the next stop for the hot 2022 board game releases. We look at 7 of our most anticipated titles to check out at the convention!

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Gen Con is coming soon! Starting on August 4th and running through the 7th, many of the hottest hits of 2022 in board gaming are hitting the vendor floor, ready for us Nerds to enjoy. Between demos, playtests, previews, and releases, Gen Con is the best four days in gaming for a reason!

This is THE show to attend in the United States if you’re a gaming nerd, and this year is no exception. Oftentimes, Gen Con is also the biggest convention as far as new releases and announcements, heralding in the next wave of hot 2022 board games.

Although I won’t be attending Gen Con this year, thanks to a new little gamer in my household, I’ll be living on vicariously through social media and other attendees who have their boots on the ground. There are plenty of things to prepare for ahead of time if you’re attending Gen Con, so check out our list of convention safety tips. Also, here’s a link to the Gen Con Exhibit Hall map to plan out your days so that you don’t miss any of your favorite publishers.

Heading to Gen Con? Here’s my Top 7 list of the board games you should be on the lookout for. They’ll probably go fast, so this can serve as your de facto shopping list for some of the hottest board games of 2022!

In no particular order, let’s kick things off!

Evergreen

Photo credit to Horrible Guild: https://horribleguild.com/product/evergreen/

When I first saw the announcement for Evergreen by Horrible Guild, my initial thought was that this was just the Photosynthesis board game. You have a sun that moves around the board, you’re growing trees…I just didn’t see much of a difference. Well, it makes sense because the designer of Evergreen is the same as Photosynthesis: Hjalmar Hach.

Further inspection reveals that there is plenty different about the game, even if the theme is similar. For one, Evergreen focuses on different Biomes and growing your trees in fertile areas for them to collect that precious sunlight. The game is also card-based, granting you access to Powers and effects while impacting which regions are fertile.

Taking care of the planet and working towards electing officials who take climate change is very important, and so I’m appreciative of the theme to help promote that idea. In addition to Evergreen being made relatively sustainably, the game supports the Trees for the Future organization. That’s a cause that needs to shine.

You’ll be able to check out Evergreen at the Horrible Guild Booth #166 at Gen Con! Official release date is Q4 2022, so I’m assuming there’s only the possibility of a demo at the convention.

Turing Machine

I was fortunate enough to see a sneak preview of Turing Machine from Hachette Boardgames while I was at Origins in June. It’s a competitive deduction game, and the latest by Le Scorpion Masqué. The game features punch cards, which were used in the early days of computing to run programs. You’d have stacks and stacks of these cards, and you’d run them through the computer in order to get your results. And if one of them was out of order…oh let’s just not think about that.

In Turing Machine, you’ll be attempting to crack a code by overlaying 3 cards. Then, you pass those cards over to the machine and interpret the rules. The computer will be giving you confirmation about your guesses, slowly revealing the answer. That is, if you can crack the code!

I love the table presence, the punch cards, and the game box. Plus it’s a tough puzzler that will put your brain on the back burner and turn the heat all the way up to 11. Deduction games like this keep your mind in tip-top shape, and they’re the type of games that Le Scorpion Masqué does so incredibly well.

You can find Turing Machine at the Hachette Boardgames Booth #2109 at Gen Con! You can preorder on the Hachette site and pick up your game at the show.

Starship Captains

The first of two space-themed games on this list of Gen Con board games, Starship Captains is a euro-style game published by Czech Games Edition. Assume the role of a starship captain, embarking on a journey with your crew on your quest towards adventure.

Over the course of the game, you’ll be exploring the galaxy in order to complete missions and upgrade your ship. As your crew trains up, they’ll be even better at their individual roles. You don’t want that bucket of rust to just lazily glide through space forever when it breaks down, right?

Honestly, this is about as much as I know about the game. There are miniatures, dual-layer player boards, tokens, cards, and more, meaning that there is a lot going on. It almost seems like it’s Wild Space 2.0, with a much higher level of complexity. And I really enjoy Wild Space!

You can find Starship Captains at the Czech Games Edition Rooms #235-239 at Gen Con!

Wormholes

Photo credit to Alderac Entertainment Group: https://www.alderac.com/wormholes/

Wormholes, designed by Tiny Towns creator Peter McPherson and published by AEG, is a board game about creating wormholes in space. If you’re not familiar with the concept of a wormhole, it’s essentially a slipstream/teleportation gate that allows you to quickly zip from one place to another. In the game, you are trying to build a connected network of wormholes so that you can deliver passengers all over the vast depths of the great beyond.

I’m a sucker for big, interconnected tiles of hexes ala Gaia Project, which is something featured in Wormholes. Although the game plays quite differently. As you’re flying around space, warping through a wormhole will negate the need to spend energy for the move. If you’re able to deliver passengers to a wide variety of planets, that will score you bonus points, so you’ll want to maximize that movement as much as possible.

However, you’ll also get points when other players use your wormholes. When in doubt of what to do on your turn, just drop a wormhole! You might be glad that you did!

I also appreciate that there’s a solo variant in Wormholes. That always bumps up my interest because sometimes I just like to grind out a board game by myself and try to beat my previous high score. Are you logging your board game plays?

You can find Wormholes at the Alderac Entertainment Group Booth #801 at Gen Con!

Crescent Moon

Crescent Moon, by Osprey Games, entered my radar after it was covered on the Lord of the Board channel. If you aren’t familiar with Lord of the Board, then you should definitely go check it out and give a sub over there. Tons of great video content, much of which is centered around asymmetric board games like Crescent Moon.

Each of these Factions has their own unique abilities and powers, meaning that there’s plenty of opportunity to specialize and become a master of each Faction in the game. There are also many different hex groupings that will have an impact on the gameplay right away at setup, lending themselves to the playstyles of certain Factions as well.

This is a heavier strategy game where the player actions almost always benefit other players as well. There’s a social aspect of the game where you can try and influence other players to hopefully take actions that will be to your advantage as well.

I’m also really intrigued by the Market mechanics, because the coins you spend to buy cards from the Market go to the player that owns those cards. Something to keep in mind is that Crescent Moon plays only at 4 or 5 players. So this game is designed for people who can get together with gaming groups with some regularity so that it doesn’t just gather dust on the shelf.

You can find Crescent Moon at the Opsrey Games Games Booth #2744 at Gen Con!

Final Girl

Photo Credit to Van Ryder Games: https://www.vanrydergames.com/finalgirl

Having just collected the Dice Tower’s Solo Game of the Year award, Final Girl by Van Ryder Games was ALL the rage at Origins, and supply was limited. This game is a little bit different than the others on this list because it is strictly a solo experience. That’s right – you won’t be able to play this with anybody else at the same time!

The premise in Final Girl is that you’re the star of a horror movie. If you can eliminate the killer in each different scenario, and survive to the daylight, you’ll be victorious! Designers AJ Porfirio and Evan Derrick have confirmed that this experience was always intended to be a solo one, and that they stuck to their intentions by not expanding it beyond that.

Even still, Final Girl retains a very high user grade on BGG, meaning that people find the game to be unique and impactful. There are also several different Feature Film boxes that have different antagonists, so you can survive all many of horrible situations!

You can find Final Girl at the Van Ryder Games Booth #2949 at Gen Con, along with the different Feature Films boxes.

Green Team Wins

Photo credit to 25th Century Games: https://www.25thcenturygames.com/

And I couldn’t close out the list without including a party game! My monthly gaming group loves to dabble in a new party game like Green Team Wins, a new title from 25th Century Games. I actually heard a lot of buzz around this game at Origins, so that’s why I wanted to be sure to spread the love in the Gen Con preview article.

In Green Team Wins, players are sorted into two teams: Green Team and Orange Team. And then, well, the Green Team wins. That’s really all there is to it. But you’re probably thinking, what happens if I don’t get onto the Green Team from the beginning? Why should I even play?

Over the course of the game, you can get yourself put on the Green Team! Everybody gets asked the same question, regardless of team, and then everybody writes down their responses. If you have the most popular answer – that is, the answer that most people wrote – you’ll join the Green Team and score some points.

So just get onto the Green Team!

I grew up playing Balderdash and The Game of Things, so I am no stranger towards games of writing down answers. The key to this one is that you need to put yourself in the heads of the other players while the other players do the exact same thing. Put on your imposter shades and follow the crowd to get on the Green Team and WIN.

You can find Green Team Wins at the 25th Century Games Booth #1457 at Gen Con!

Gen Con Preview: Final Thoughts

There are so many great games to be discovered at Gen Con 2022, and there certainly isn’t enough time to get to all of them. Hopefully this gives you a jumpstart on your last-minute convention planning!

If you’re going to Gen Con – have an awesome time! Share your favorite moments and great finds on social media so that we can all relish in the joy of gaming.

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The Origins Game Fair Introduces Many of the Hottest Board Games of 2022. Let’s Look at 7. https://nerdsonearth.com/2022/06/the-origins-game-fair-introduces-many-of-the-hottest-board-games-of-2022-lets-look-at-7/ Tue, 07 Jun 2022 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=38535

The Origins Game Fair is the next stop for the hot 2022 board game releases. We look at 7 of our most anticipated titles to check out at the convention!

The post The Origins Game Fair Introduces Many of the Hottest Board Games of 2022. Let’s Look at 7. appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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The Origins Game Fair is right around the corner again. Starting on June 9, many of the hottest hits of 2022 in board gaming are hitting the vendor floor, ready for us to enjoy. Between demos, playtests, previews, and releases, the Game Manufacturers Association has brought in a stellar lineup that’s bound to razzle and dazzle us being that it marks the next big release wave of hot 2022 board games.

Additionally, this will be my first time heading to the Origins board game convention! I’ll be working in the Pandasaurus Games booth (#408) doing board game demos, so be sure to stop by and say hello! You can check out the Origins show map here to plan out your days so that you don’t miss any of your favorite publishers.

Heading to Origins? Here’s my Top 7 list of the board games you should be on the lookout for. They’ll probably go fast, so this can serve as your de facto shopping list for some of the hottest board games of 2022!

In no particular order, let’s kick things off!

Akropolis

First up is Grecian game of tile-laying fun – Akropolis by Gigamic and Hachette! Ancient Greece is no stranger to the board game scene, as plenty of games like 7 Wonders and Santorini hit the table constantly. In Akropolis, players break out the hammers and chisels to grow their city upwards and outwards until it’s the pinnacle by which all other cities should be judged.

What really draws me into this game is the fact that you build your city higher and higher, thereby scoring more points. The tiles are all a combination of three hexes, which means that placement is key; what will you be placing next to and what will you be covering up?

And fans of bureaucracy rejoice because your urban planning needs to fit the local building codes. Thankfully you don’t need to pull any permits, but keep in mind that a well-designed city doesn’t happen randomly. It takes care and consideration!

You’ll be able to check out Akropolis at the Hachette Booth #954 at Origins! Official release date is July 1st.

Ark Nova

Ark Nova Board Game
Photo credit to Capstone Games: https://capstone-games.com/board-games/ark-nova/

Ark Nova, by Capstone Games, has been one of the most hyped games since it was announced, the overall reception is incredible. At the time of writing this, Ark Nova sits at a whopping 8.7 rating on BGG as the 14th Overall Game and 7th-ranked Strategy game.

In Ark Nova, players are each designing and implementing their own zoo. In order for your zoo to be successful, you’ll need to manage your enclosures and support the ongoing global conservation projects elsewhere in the world.

The game has been compared heavily to Terraforming Mars in its approach, especially considering its use of a towering deck of cards that players will be cycling through over the course of the game. In a similar vein, players will play those cards while simultaneously building up their zoo on a personal game mat. That’s one aspect where the game differs from Terraforming Mars; everybody has their own space.

Don’t be fooled – this is a long game with complex rules, and it’s likely the heaviest game on the list. Heavy in terms of complexity, not necessarily in terms of packaged weight!

Even still, Ark Nova was one of my most anticipated games of the year, and seems like it will be a top game for several years.

You can find Ark Nova at the Capstone Booth #1112 at Origins!

Tenpenny Parks

Tenpenny Parks by Thunderworks Games
Photo credit to Thunderworks Games: https://www.thunderworksgames.com/tenpennyparks.html

Tickets please! When I first started my journey in board game design, my first concept was to make a theme park game. It’s a design space that has seemed to be lacking, until Tenpenny Parks by Thunderworks Games came along!

Tenpenny Parks has everything that I want in a theme park simulator:

  • Managing the environment
  • Building concessions
  • Expanding your park
  • Constructing Attractions

On top of that, Tenpenny Parks also lets you skew your park towards the raw emotions of Thrill, Awe, and Joy. You know, because a park filled with roller coasters is much different than something closer to Busch Gardens.

The game uses tetronimos which can be placed on your property to enhance your park. You have to leave space between the tiles, otherwise how will the people navigate to all of the wonders that you’ve built for them?

Tenpenny Parks has amazing table presence thanks to a cardboard carousel ring that adjusts the costs of the actions spaces as it spins around and round. Thunderworks Games really captured the feel of a budding amusement park with this game. I can’t wait to take a ride!

You can find Tenpenny Parks at the Thunderworks Booth #628 at Origins!

Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition

Cat in the Box Deluxe Edition by Bezier Games
Photo credit to Bezier Games: https://beziergames.com/products/cat-in-the-box-deluxe-edition

Honestly, I don’t even know what to think about the next game on the list, Cat in the Box by Bezier Games. It’s definitely a game and not an experiment, they make that explicitly clear in the rules. Nothing out of the ordinary to see here!

Cat in the Box is a trick-taking game with an interesting twist; you declare the color of the card as you play it. The game plays into the thought experiment of Schrödinger’s cat in the sense that nobody knows the color until it is revealed and declared! The catch is that you can’t name a color that has already been declared for that number.

At the same time, players are predicting how many tricks they will win. You then earn points based on the tricks that you take, along with a correct prediction. Just don’t cause a paradox! Plan ahead so that you keep the quantum realm stable and intact.

This is a very interesting concept for a game and seems like it would be a blast in the right hands. Plus, trick-taking is a very accessible and approachable game mechanic, so there should be broad appeal for Cat in the Box.

Um…the cat is also totally adorable. Which is also a strong buying point.

You can find Cat in the Box at the Bezier Games Booth #600 at Origins!

Trailblazers

Trailblazers-by-Bitewing-Games
Photo credit to Bitewing Games: https://bitewinggames.com/trailblazers/

Trailblazers by Bitewing Games initially caught my eye with its art style, and the cover nods to the route-building mechanics contained inside the box. I do a lot of traveling, camping, and hiking, so games like this and PARKS are always going to be on my radar.

In Trailblazers, you’ll be biking, hiking, and kayaking your way around the wildness, paving trails away from your campsite. This is accomplished through the use of trail cards, which get arranged around the other trails to form a complex weaving network of outdoor adventure.

You can explore as far as you’d like by charting an elaborate trail through the wilderness, but make sure that you’re able to connect it back to the campsite in a closed loop to get those sweet victory points. Trailblazers is very much a dominoes-style game except that cards can overlap existing cards to continue the trails.

Ryan Courtney has designed other spacial puzzle games like Pipeline and Curious Cargo, and Trailblazers is a faster game than those other designs. And there’s also a solo mode, which is always a big hit for me too!

You can find Trailblazers at the Bitewing Games Booth #1061 at Origins!

Oak

Oak by Game Brewer
Photo Credit to Game Brewer: https://gamefound.com/projects/gamebrewer/oak

Alright, so maybe this is a subliminal thing because the O in Oak reminds me of Elden Ring, but I absolutely love the feel that I’m getting from the Oak cover.

Oak is a game about druids learning from the mighty Maple tree in the middle of the forest. Just kidding – it’s obviously an Oak tree! The game features hand management and worker placement mechanics, including an interesting method of upgrading your meeples.

As your meeples progress to elder druid status, they get fancy new bling to adorn their wooden frame. There will be no mistaking those druids for normal druids after they get their hands on these golden boons, that’s for sure!

There are a lot of concepts in the game and I’m still very curious how they all interact with each other. You have artifacts, potions, shrines and menhirs, creatures, and even tree-climbing. Plus, there’s a Solstice Festival that you still need to prepare for. When will we have the time?!

Oak was funded on Gamefound and is currently awaiting production and fulfillment. Therefore, this would be a demo title for Origins this year.

You can find Oak at the Game Brewer Booth #1022 at Origins!

Castles by the Sea

Castles by the Sea - Brotherwise Games
Photo credit to Brotherwise Games: https://www.brotherwisegames.com/castles-by-the-sea

Last on the list, but certainly not least, is Castles by the Sea by Brotherwise Games! I’ll tell you what – I didn’t have sandcastles on my 2022 Board Game Theme bingo card, but this game seems to deliver this concept in an incredible way. I love how the natural wood blocks don’t need anything extra to instantly remind you of building a sandcastle on the beach.

The goal is to keep your pieces on the shared board as long as possible. Everybody knows that a sandcastle is in constant threat from numerous hazards: rising tides, stomping tourists, and errant volleyballs. Things are no different in Castles by the Sea! Protect your pieces from “The Giant” and “The Terror” that roam the sands!

The worldbuilding for Castles by the Sea is amazing, and reminiscent of their inspiration to Studio Ghibli films. It’s a beautiful game that’s easy to teach and showcases the frivolity and joy of board gaming.

Castles by the Sea just wrapped up their Kickstarter Campaign, so it won’t be available for sale at Origins. But get in a demo if you’re going to be at the show!

You can find Castles by the Sea at the Brotherwise Booth #1000 at Origins!

Origins Preview: Final Thoughts

There are so many great games to be discovered at Origins Game Fair 2022, and I wish I could touch on them all! But if I did that, I’d be late leaving to drive to Columbus for the convention!

If you’re going to the Game Fair – have an awesome time! Share your favorite moments and great finds on social media so that we can all relish in the joy of gaming.

The post The Origins Game Fair Introduces Many of the Hottest Board Games of 2022. Let’s Look at 7. appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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Cardboard Counterparts: Gaia Project Board Game Vs. Gaia Project Digital App https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/06/cardboard-counterparts-gaia-project-board-game-vs-gaia-project-digital-app/ Tue, 08 Jun 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=36024 Gaia Project Board Game

How does the digital version of the Gaia Project board game stack up to its cardboard counterpart? Abram reviews his FAVORITE GAME!

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Gaia Project Board Game

I recently got through putting together my Top 7 Digital Board Game Apps that you can play on your phone. Right after finishing that article, I put together a second list because there are so many fantastic digital adaptations of board games. With the recent release of the Gaia Project digital app on Steam, I felt the need to put together a comparison review for FINALLY getting a digital release of my favorite board game EVER.

How does it stack up against its cardboard counterpart? Let’s take a look!

Gaia Project Board Game

Gaia Project puts players in the driver’s seat of factions vying to expand their galactic reach. It’s a magnificent engine-builder that offers the opportunity to leverage a faction’s strengths on the way to victory. Additionally, it’s the space-analog to another well-loved board game: Terra Mystica.

Over the course of six rounds, players will build mines to expand their galactic footprint, form federations, and perform research to improve their empire. On top of that, they may find themselves terraforming the planets around them to make them hospitable. The game’s namesake comes from using a rare bit of technology called gaiaforming to change a transdimensional planet into one suitable for anyone.

Why do I love Gaia Project so much? Here are the strengths:

  1. Variability – Each color has two unique factions that grant exceptionally different abilities. You’ll have to play 14 times just to experience each faction once. Plus, the board is randomly generated in setup, which also has a huge impact on your strategy.
  2. Foresight – As an engine-builder, Gaia Project forces you to think many turns in advance. Do you upgrade a building now, or wait until next turn? You’d forgo your income bonus, but you would get the points bonus from the round’s objective.
  3. Gaiaforming – It’s such an interesting mechanism to use the gaiaformers. You’d think in a game called ‘Gaia Project’ that using these devices would be a given, but I didn’t use a gaiaformer until my third or fourth game. Again, this lends itself well to having so many decision trees that you can win with a variety of strategies.

It’s hard for me to find faults with Gaia Project, because it is at the top of my list for board games. I can, however, dig deep to find some room for improvement in the following areas:

  1. Graphic Design – The overall look of Gaia Project is good, but there are just some wonky parts that stand out a bit. From the faction images to the UI of the board and iconography, it can definitely be improved and updated. A fan actually started a huge personal project to update these, which you can check out on BoardGameGeek.
  2. Cost Management – You have a number of important resources in Gaia Project: Ore, Credits, Knowledge, Quantum Intelligence Cubes (QIC), and Power. Throughout the game, you can exchange resources for other ones. However, it can be really difficult to consider those exchanges and conversions while playing. You could actually afford something that you initially think that you can’t!
  3. Memory – This goes back to the Graphic Design a bit, but when I play this game I’m often looking back at the rulebook to make sure I understand what certain icons mean. This is especially true for things like the Round bonuses and the end-game scoring. It’s an issue with Terra Mystica that wasn’t fixed with Gaia Project.

Now that I’ve been forced to say bad things about Gaia Project, let’s transition over to the digital app to see if it stacks up!

Gaia Project Board Game
The game is nearly identical to the cardboard Gaia Project, but you’ll notice some differences!

Gaia Project Digital App

In the first iteration of the Cardboard Counterparts series, I defined the three criteria that I consider when looking at the digital app of a board game:

  1. Accurate – The game has to be an accurate representation of the original game. The built-in logic should be consistent with the game and shouldn’t have a bunch of errors that make it unplayable.
  2. Intuitive – Even if I’m familiar with the game, I don’t want to spend half my time trying to figure out what everything means. This could mean consistent iconography or abbreviations that make sense. It also means that I don’t want to have to dive in and out of menus.
  3. Mobile – I like my digital games to be mobile! Bonus points if I can play on the go with friends.

Now, obviously this is on Steam so the mobile component is out the window already. However, Gaia Project solidly delivers on being accurate and intuitive, and it improves upon the three weakness with the analog version of the game.

One thing that stands out to me is how accessible the game is from an information standpoint. At one glance of the screen, I can see my progress on the research track, the types of planets I have structures on, my income and current resource levels, the scoring tiles, and players that have passed already.

Gaia Project Board Game
Plenty of sub-menus to expand or hide (top left, top right, and around the player icon)

In addition, the game does a really good job of telling you valid actions that you can take. If you can perform Research or form a Federation, those tabs turn green. This is very helpful to me, because there are always so many actions that you might be able to do, that it isn’t hard for you to forget about one or two of them. This also reminds you of those resource conversions that I mentioned above.

If you click an action to take, the game also gives you confirmation, which INCLUDES listing any alternative costs to performing that action. Of course, if you can’t pay the standard cost, that’s not an option for you. But I can’t emphasize how helpful it is to have a clear indication of the costs associated with an action.

I will take this opportunity to say that I did experience some initial bugs that crashed the game for me, and every time they were around exchanging resources to pay for alternate costs. I found that exchanging the materials separately first eliminated my issues – just an anecdote to consider.

Another thing that I love is the Federation screen. In following the development for the app, the Federation calculations were often referenced as being a tricky part of the coding. You have to think of the many permutations of how a Federation can be formed, especially in the late game where you might be able to form 2 or 3 in consecutive turns.

In Gaia Project, you place satellites in the non-planet spaces between planets that you’re federating. You have to discard a power to place a satellite, and you can’t place more satellites than the lowest number that you could place to form a valid Federation. Plus, Federations can only be formed with buildings that meet the power requirements. There is a lot to consider!

The Federation screen is amazing. It shows you the valid Federation that it calculated, which you can click and accept instantly. Or, you can click the planet clusters and manually adjust the satellites however you see fit. If there are multiple Federations that you can form, it’ll show multiple scenarios as well. It’s clean, concise, and easy.

Gaia Project Board Game
In this example, I have a couple options to place my satellite to form a Federation.

Lastly, practically everything in the Gaia Project app has a tooltip associated with it. Click a round booster and there will be a little blurb about what you’re getting for that round. Same thing goes for the Round Scoring and Final Scoring tiles. What’s even better is that the Final Scoring tiles also list the current progress of every player. More detail is always hiding in sub-menus, but you can toggle certain aspects of the UI to have it as informative or minimal as you’d like.

So, does the digital app address my qualms with the physical game?

Graphic Design – It’s very evident that Gaia Project got a graphical facelift in this implementation. Gone are the days of the hand-income symbol, replaced by an intuitive plus sign instead. The factions also have some new, full-body artwork in the selection screen which is nice. Everything is clearly elevated.

Cost Management – Just being able to calculate the exchanges for you and giving visual representation of what actions you can take is a major stepping stone in the right direction. Being able to spend more computational power on strategy instead of fictitious exchange rates is liberating.

Memory – This is great. Tooltips galore! There was only one instance where I actually had to reference the rulebook for something, and it was for the benefit for reaching the end of the Gaiaforming Research Track. I didn’t find any tooltips for those, but for most of them the iconography gives you what you need. I was mostly just making sure my interpretation was correct before I picked that tile up.

Gaia Project Board Game
Those green plus signs are now used for indicating income, much more intuitive.

Gaia Project: Parting Thoughts

Gaia Project is one of those games that doesn’t hit the table as often as I’d like it to. There’s a lot to setup and pack up, and it’s a heavier game with a higher learning curve, which means that it’s not something that I’ll roll out on my monthly game night.

Therefore, I’m so so happy that Gaia Project is digital now. It means that I can get my Gaia Project fix in much more frequently, while not only playing solo against the Automa. Plus, I can play online!

I highly recommend checking Gaia Project out on Steam. At this point, the 25%-off introductory price is gone, but it’s still well worth your time!

The post Cardboard Counterparts: Gaia Project Board Game Vs. Gaia Project Digital App appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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How to Design a Board Game https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/05/how-to-design-a-board-game/ Tue, 25 May 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=35958 Skora Board Game Box and components

Board Game Design can be broken into three steps: Design, Prototype, and Playtest!

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Skora Board Game Box and components

You play a lot of games. You love playing games. You probably eat, sleep, and breathe board games! Personally, I’d recommend balancing out your board game consumption with some Point Salad.

But even after playing so many games, you find that there’s a gaming itch that you need to scratch. You want to design your own board game! Where do you even begin?

Now, I’m going to preface all of this to say that I’m an aspiring amateur designer. This means that I don’t have any board games published and no designer accolades to back up my recommendations. However, there is a general creative process that can be followed and applied to a multitude of things, including board game design.

Top-Down or Bottom-Up Design

Alright, so this first point goes without saying, but you need to have an idea for your board game. There are two main ways that designers go about designing their game. You can either start with a top-down or bottom-up design. Mark Rosewater, who is the head designer for Magic: the Gathering, has some great comments about these two design methods, which you can read about here.

A top-down design is when you have an idea for the flavor or theme and want to build a game around that. For example, maybe you want to make a game about a pirate bakery called Pi-rates. This may lend itself towards the types of mechanics and gameplay involved in your design. Everything is built around and within this thematic shell.

Bottom-up design is essentially the opposite. You might have a novel mechanic in mind that you want to showcase. At the time, you’re not thinking about theme. It’s something that you will gradually develop as the mechanics are fleshed out and finalized. Abstract games like Azul and Sagrada are usually examples of bottom-up design.

When you first decide that you want to design a board game, you need to design how you’re going to approach it from one of these two perspectives. Or, perhaps, you’ll make your own hybrid method of both of these. Keep in mind that there’s no wrong way to eat design a board game.

Here are some questions that you can use that might help you decide where you want to begin:

  • Do you know what you want your game to be about?
  • What do you want your players to do during the game?
  • What kind of game do you want to design?
  • Who is your target audience?
  • What is your end goal for the game? Do you want to publish it, or is this just a personal project?

Write down all of your ideas! A key part of brainstorming that’s often quoted is, ‘There’s no such thing as a bad idea.’ Even an idea that doesn’t end up making the cut for your game can help lead you to something that does. Or, maybe it’ll find its way to another game that you create. The point is, you don’t want to forget anything that you think up.

Tapestry Board Game Review, end-game board showing conquered and explored tiles.
Games like Tapestry didn’t start out as a finished product; they went through countless design iterations.

Prototype It!

The next step is to put a prototype together. Now, a lot of people spend too much time in this step because they want their prototype to look good. They want all of the details finalized and everything named, etc. However, you need to see if the game works. Chances are very, very high that the game you start with is going to be drastically different than the final game that you end up with.

All you need are the basics to whip up a prototype. Don’t worry about whether your game board has the exact spacing that you’re looking for, or that your components aren’t the specific colors that you want. Just get your game into a playable state.

There are a ton of kits and spare board game components that you can use to help you get started. Again, you don’t need anything fancy. Different colors of generic meeples, cubes, spare playing cards, and cardstock can go a long way. There are some kits out there, like the White Box, that are nice little starter kits with components that will get the job done.

Alternatively, you can take components from other games you own. Just make sure that you know where they came from! If I ever upgrade game components with fancier metal coins or whatnot, I’ll keep those old cardboard chits to use in my game designing. And, if you want to go the cheapest route, you can just cut out pieces of paper and draw on them!

One component that’s been a huge hit for me are dry erase playing cards, like these ones. They make it really easy to make quick changes on the fly without having to cross stuff out or reprint cards. There are tons of creative ways you can make components as well, like cutting off sections of a wooden dowel or repurposing toy soldiers. Here are some basic components that you might want to consider having:

  • Meeples
  • Colored Cubes
  • Colored Dice
  • Playing Cards
  • Index Cards
  • Cardboard Chits (or cut down some dry-erase cards to create your own)
  • Markers
  • Pencils
  • Spare Card Sleeves
  • Plastic Counters
  • Paper

Alternatively, you can put together your game digitally on a platform like Tabletop Simulator. The nice thing about going that route is you can digitally save your various iterations of the game as you go along. The main negative is that there is a small learning curve with the software, and you can get lost in trying to make the game look good instead of being content with basic components.

Umbra Via
Some games, like Umbra Via, come with great components to repurpose for prototyping!

Playtesting Your Game

Once you have something that you can actually play, it’s time to playtest it! It’s usually good to playtest with yourself until you get something a little more concrete, because you’re going to find issues with it. That’s a given, and just a part of the process. Don’t get discouraged when you discover a game-breaking combo or a mechanic that flat-out doesn’t work.

Playtesting your board game is going to be where you spend the majority of your time. You’ll go back and forth between designing, playtesting, redesigning, and playtesting many times. Once you have a game that you feel is good or good enough at least, that’s when you start seeking out other players to help get you the feedback that you really need.

Start taking notes. Notes are so important because you can see your progress, and you can keep track of reactions the game. A lot of designers utilize surveys or forms with standardized questions so that the feedback from players is always in the same order and always answering the same questions. Don’t forget to leave a free-form space for players to leave their other comments as well.

I’m not going to get into the specifics of how to lead a playtest, as that process is quite extensive in and of itself. However, it’s important that you are able to accept feedback from people, both positive and negative. Sometimes the best feedback is what comes from the ‘negatives’; you can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. And, as a designer, you are sometimes too deep into your project to see issues that fresh eyes might see.

Here are some additional questions you can use to frame your note-taking:

  • What parts of the game are the most fun?
  • What parts of the game don’t work as well?
  • Is the game balanced? Should it be?
  • What specifically doesn’t work about about the game?
  • How long did the playthrough take?
  • Is anything explicitly broken within the game?
  • Who did I play with? Did they have any specific thoughts?
  • Is the game fun?
  • What questions do I still have about the game?
  • What do I like about the game?
  • Do the mechanics match the theme?
  • Does the theme work?

Designing Your Board Game

Those are the basics to making a game! Design, prototype, and test. Don’t worry about grabbing ideas and mechanics from other games, either. Most games are a conglomeration, a re-imagining, or a mash-up of other games anyways. There are a ton of great resources for game design, which I’ll probably compile together for a future post.

At the end of the day, always keep your end-goal in mind. Designing a game just for yourself can be a lot different than trying to get your game published. However, as long as your game is fun and you enjoy it, that’s really all that matters.

I’ll probably have more to say and expand upon regarding board game design in the future, so stay tuned for future installments!

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These are NOT My Top 7 Board Games of All Time, for Various Reasons that I Will Share https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/03/these-are-not-my-top-7-board-games-of-all-time-for-various-reasons-that-i-will-share/ Thu, 25 Mar 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=35201

There are so many board games that not all of them can make your Top 7 list. Clave shares some great games that just didn't make the cut.

The post These are NOT My Top 7 Board Games of All Time, for Various Reasons that I Will Share appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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I recently did my Top 7 Board Games of All Time list, which was difficult for me because I like approximately 1,657,297 games, so narrowing it down was like giving my kids a little tough love in the form of pointedly reminding them that life is hard sometimes.

Oh, you’re going to cry now because you didn’t make the list? Let me tell you, kid, they will eat you alive at Berry Patch Montessori and Organic Farm School for Gifted Pre-Schoolers with that kind of attitude, so you better toughen up or your chances of getting into Reed are going to be shot before you enter first grade.

So, lists are hard. Not every child gets center stage at the pre-school talent show. Tough decisions need to be made. This list is an attempt to explain some of those tough decisions.

My NOT Top 7 Board Games of All Time

Honorable Mention: Dice Throne

Consider Dice Throne my #8 game of all time, which – all things considered – still speaks incredibly highly of Dice Throne!

Dice Throne is essentially Yahtzee with more fun stuff added. You roll dice to activate powers that knocks your opponent’s health down to zero. The game is developed by Roxley and it is perfectly and meticulously crafted and balanced.

I highly recommend it and it just missed my list all-time favorite board games [LINK]. I’ve written more about Dice Throne here if you are interested.

Get a Dice Throne starter pack here.

Fast Rising: Unmatched

Image courtesy of Restoration Games, the publisher of Unmatched.

Unmatched is a game that is getting a ton of love right now. I love it also and would consider it a game that is rising fast when I list out my favorite board games ever. But it’s still a little too new and I need to run it though the paces a bit more first.

Unmatched is a miniatures dueling game that features legendary fighters from pop culture, like Sinbad, Dracula, and Medusa. Each hero has a unique deck of cards that fits their fighting style and you can mix and match fighters from any Unmatched set.

The fun news is more Unmatched sets are releasing all the time and publisher Restoration Games recently got the license to produce Marvel Unmatched, which will undoubtedly make me even more excited about the game!

Get Unmatched here.

Death of a Goldfish: Pandemic Legacy

Photo courtesy of leacock.com, the designer of Pandemic Legacy.

It wasn’t too long ago that I may have listed Pandemic Legacy as my favorite game ever, so if you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend the experience at least once.

But legacy games – that is, board games that have a persistent storyline to them and are played over a series of sessions – can be a lot of work. Definitionally, you can’t just pick them up for a quick play and then drop them. No, you have to commit.

So, when it came time for Pandemic Legacy Season 2, I realized the legacy fad was a little ephemeral for me. They turned out to be like the carnival goldfish of the board game world. Some have a little more “shelf life” than others, but all will be flushed before you know it.

Get Pandemic Legacy here.

Should Have Made the List: Dominion

I have introduced more people to the hobby through Dominion than any other game. Even non-gamers understand cards, and Dominion is nothing but cards.

Dominion is the granddaddy of what are called deck builders. You start out with a small hand of cards and limited actions. Turn by turn you add cards and your actions increase.

Dominion is chill, yet still thoughtful. It works great as a two player game, so it makes for a nice, quiet date night at home. It also has loads of expansions, and while there are flashier games that exist, you’d be hard pressed to find a game that is more universally appreciated than Dominion.

I’ve probably played Dominion too much to fully appreciate it anymore, which is a shame, as it’s a wonderful game.

You can get Dominion here.

Too Big to Fail: Gloomhaven

Gloomhaven is not a small, quick party game. It’s a CR 25 board game where the game itself weights 20 pounds. It’s the biggest game of all time, relative to popularity as well as literally.

It is awe inspiring the first time you set it up. But I should also be clear that the first time you set it up you might want to budget a full ten-day worth of time. And at some point it just became too much for me.

Get Gloomhaven here.

Confused Out of the Market: X-Wing

X-Wing 2.0 (via Fantasy Flight Games)

I was invited to Fantasy Flight’s headquarters for the release event of the 2nd edition of X-Wing. They wanted me to cover the release event on Nerds on Earth and I did so here.

That is not a humble brag. I’m local, so it’s not like they flew me in or anything. All I had to do was drive a few minutes in exchange for some nice swag.

But even as they were showing me the upcoming products and answering my questions, I didn’t fully get why I’d pay for upgrade packs in order to use my 1.0 Star Wars ships in the 2nd edition of the game. And I certainly didn’t want to shell out for all new ships, as 1st edition was just fine for me.

So instead of jumping in with both feet into the 2nd edition of the game, I sort of just drifted away from the 1st edition.

Get X-Wing here.

Too Strained: Sagrada

I’ll give you 20 bucks if you can tell me which of these dice are purple.
Photo by Board Game Quest.

Sagrada is a gorgeous and wonderful game. My wife would consider it among her all-time favorite games. But we rarely ever get it to the table anymore because it gives me headaches.

When I say headaches, I mean literal headaches. Sagrada uses colorful dice to mimic the creation of a beautiful stained glass window. The pattern matching element of the game is something I absolutely love, and a game type that I enjoy in several other games like Tiny Towns, New York Zoo, Patchwork, and others.

But I don’t see colors well and the translucent dice strain my eyes all to heck, meaning I almost certainly have a headache by the end of the game. But while that is no fun for me, I certainly commend the game to you. It’s a wonderful game.

Get Sagrada here, if your eyes can handle it.


What are your Top 7 board games? And what games might just miss your list for various reasons? Drop in to our Boarderlands Facebook Group, which is a dedicated space for all things board gaming, and let us know!

The post These are NOT My Top 7 Board Games of All Time, for Various Reasons that I Will Share appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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Clave’s List: My Top 7 Board Games of All Time https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/03/claves-list-my-top-7-board-games-of-all-time/ Wed, 24 Mar 2021 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=34891

Here's a list of the Top 7 Board Games according to Clave, who happens to know quite a bit about board games and what makes them fun!

The post Clave’s List: My Top 7 Board Games of All Time appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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I love board games – the dicier the better. And no matter how hard I work to cull my collection, it stills feels like there are hundreds around my house. Particularly as publisher after publisher sends Nerds on Earth games to review, the games literally pile up and I really have to search my feelings to know what is true about my top board games of all time.

So, which are my favorite board games of all time? Well, we do lists of 7 here at Nerds on Earth, so see below.

Top 7 Board Games of All Time

Dice Masters

Dice Masters is not a game many people admit they like anymore, despite the fact that it was a runaway hit several years ago.

Dice Masters is nothing much more than cheap dice and cheap cards. In fact, WizKids saturated the market with 99 cent boosters, which undoubtedly instigated the present backlash against the game. That, and 99 cent boosters creates crazy storage anxiety, so many players would rather give away their 500 dice to a new home rather than drive to Michael’s to buy a bunch of plastic Plano boxes to store them.

But if someone asked me right now if I wanted to play a couple rounds of Dice Masters, I’d immediately say yes. It’s a great game! The interplay of the dice and cards works and the turn flow is smooth. In short, there is a lot of fun gameplay with those cheap dice and cards.

Plus, I love Marvel, so I’m happy to put in the work on storage. In fact, if you are looking to dump your Dice Masters (or HeroClix for that matter), look no further than your good buddy Clave!

Get Dice Masters here.

Everdell

A game board with a tree built in really does inject a boost of interest to the table.

First, Everdell is a beautiful game, and if you are giving something as a gift, presentation matters, so I’m just tossing it out there that you may want to buy this one for a loved one. But most importantly, it’s an adorable game that is also a lot of fun to play. My wife and I love it.

[Get a fuller look here.]

The game features a big cardboard tree that gives the game a big presence and the artwork of the woodland creatures is incredible. It’s the wonderful combination of A+ presentation mixed with legitimately good gameplay. That’s why it pops in at #6 on my list of favorite board games of all time.

Get Everdell here.

Zombicide

It’s scientifically proven that painted zombies are scarier zombies.

Zombicide is a big, dumb game. And there are too many version of the game; we have zombie orcs and zombie cowboys and zombie who knows whats.

But Zombicide is super fun. Zombicide presses you between a choice of rolling your eyes at over-commercialization and thumbing your nose at rules that aren’t as deep as crunchy Eurogames vs. having an excellent time whooping on little zombie miniatures.

I choose having an excellent time and that’s why Zombicide lands in my top 7 board games of all time. I’ve played it with friends and they’ve loved it. My daughter has a great time with it. I play it with my nephews, who think it’s the best.

I’ve done a more thorough review, so I’ll point you there. I’ve also shared tips on paining the miniatures, which is a whole extra bonus to owning the game, so I’ll point you there as well.

Otherwise, I won’t belabor the point: Zombicide isn’t high art, but it’s a box full of fun.

Get Zombicide here.

Lords of Waterdeep

Lords of Waterdeep is almost a decade old at this point and it holds up as well as any game.

It is based upon Dungeons and Dragons and the lore associated with the city of Waterdeep in the Forgotten Realms. The Masked Lords of Waterdeep assign quests to players. Players assign their workers in order to recruit the wizards, fighters, and rogues necessary to complete those quests, then turn them in for victory points.

Games made in the decade since have fiddled, adapted, twisted, and finagled those basic mechanisms of placing workers, collecting items, and turning in cards for points, yet none since have done it any better than Lords of Waterdeep did it the first time, almost a decade ago.

But the thing that levels up Lords of Waterdeep is – despite everything going on with the game – it is very accessible and easy to learn. I’ve brought a lot of people into the hobby with the game.

You can get Lords of Waterdeep here.

Wingspan

Wingspan is a game about birds. It’s also won game of the year and countless other awards. It’s well-designed; it’s a beautiful game.

We’ve done a full review.

Of all the games on this list, this is perhaps the most “trendy” pick, appearing on a lot of folks’ “best of” lists. But I’m not a hipster, I think it’s perfectly great to sometimes like what everyone else likes. So, pretty much everyone likes Wingspan. I do too.

Get Wingspan here.

Memoir ’44

Memoir ’44 is a World War II game that is played on a hex grid using cards. The board is separated into thirds, so players must plan their card moves, as they may allow troops to move in the center, left, or right only.

It’s a 2-player game. One player plays as Axis, the other as Allies. A missions book simulates historical battles, directing the board setup, plus provides a few paragraphs of historical text, which I really enjoy.

We did a deeper look here.

It’s an absolutely wonderful game, as well as experience. If the game has a downside at all, it’s that the multitude of expansions are confusing. There isn’t a clear “buy this one second,” “buy this one third,” etc., which creates too much effort to figure out, so I just stick with the base game.

Get Memoir ’44 here.

Marvel Champions

I wish I could say I won this match.

Marvel Champions is the game for a loved one that loves super-heroic fun. It’s also my absolute favorite board game, so although I will point you to our review, I plan to continue blathering about it.

It works great as a solo game or as a co-op. The base game gives you a wonderful selection of superheroes and the gameplay is wonderful. And new superheroes are released each month as expansions, so it’s the game that will allow the gift recipient to drop down into a rabbit hole.

Get Marvel Champions here. You won’t regret it.


Click here if you are interested in the games that just missed my list.

What are your Top 7 board games? Drop in to our Boarderlands Facebook Group, which is a dedicated space for all things board gaming, and let us know!

The post Clave’s List: My Top 7 Board Games of All Time appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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Jesus and the Game of Life: Using Board Games to Get to Heaven https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/02/mansions-of-happiness/ Thu, 25 Feb 2021 13:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=27449

Why and how did we move from Mansions of Happiness to Cards Against Humanity? Earth Nerd Clave digs into the history of one of Parker Bros' earliest games.

The post Jesus and the Game of Life: Using Board Games to Get to Heaven appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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In 1843 Parker Brothers introduced one of the very first board games ever published in the United States: Mansion of Happiness. Unlike the placing of workers or building the decks of today’s games, those of that era required you to twirl a spinner to determine your fate.

The object of Mansion of Happiness is to be the first player to travel around the spiral track and reach the Mansion of Happiness at the center of the board. Being that Mansion of Happiness was based on the Puritan world view, even the game mechanics were pious. A spinner was utilized rather than dice, because rolling bones was then associated with Satan and gambling.

Winning requires players to race past spaces labeled Humility, Charity, and Generosity, hoping to avoid Whipping Post and Prison, in order to be the first to reach “heaven” in the center of the 18″ x 15″ board. Virtuous deed spaces like Honesty and Temperance move players forward to eternal happiness, while vices such as Cruelty and Ingratitude move players backward.

mansions of happiness board
Photo from WikiCommons.

Here is a blurb from the rules of Mansion of Happiness:

“Whoever possesses Piety, Honesty, Temperance, Gratitude, Prudence, Truth, Chastity, Sincerity…is entitled to advance six numbers toward the Mansion of Happiness. Whoever gets into a PASSION must be taken to the water and have a ducking to cool him…Whoever posses[ses] Audacity, Cruelty, Immodesty, or Ingratitude, must return to his former situation till his turn comes to spin again, and not even think of Happiness, much less partake of it.”

Honestly, I’m not even sure if I understand what all that means because what was instructive in 1843 sounds old-fashioned today. But in fairness, while that might sound silly to us today, I don’t really understand the word “ship,” I can’t fathom why Ariana Grande is famous, and I have no idea what half of the emojis mean and I’m afraid to use them because I suspect they are dirty. Language and culture changes.

But here’s the fun fact: You’ve probably played Mansions of Happiness without even knowing it. By the turn of the 20th century, Milton Bradley had rebranded it, creating the classic board game Life.

Says Robert Rath, “That journey from religious teaching aid to cradle-to-grave simulation not only tells us much about how American values have changed and adapted, it also offers a window on how board games made the pivot from moral guides to entertainment products.”

There weren’t many board games in America at that time. In fact, some of the few that did exist were simply imitations of Mansion of Happiness, most notably The Games of the Pilgrim’s Progress, where players began at the City of Destruction and passed abstract scenes such as The Cross and The Valley of Death before attaining final victory in The Celestial City, all borrowed language from The Pilgrim’s Progress, a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan.

Image from WikiCommons.

If you’ve played Life, you realize the game isn’t much fun. You flick the spinner and move. There isn’t much more to it. But not many games were played at that time – there simply wasn’t time for it. Agrarian America was a society of constant manual labor by people of all ages, meaning that only the children of the very rich could afford an idle hour to waste on playing games.

Says Rath, “But that began to change during the industrial revolution, when childhood was identified as a distinct time of life – a learning period where society used both play and study to shape children into productive adults. Simultaneously, the country’s new industrial techniques and products could, for the first time, manufacture games on a mass scale.”

Critically, if you were spending time on a game, you might as well make it be morally instructive, right? So, the purpose of these mid-19th century American board games, then, was less to provide entertainment and more to make clear the lessons of American Protestantism to the children who played them. Although there was likely an element of uncomfortable comedy when children giggled as their friends landed on the space marked “Whipping Post.”

But time passed and a secularization of board games was in full swing. The Industrial Revolution saw America take a sudden movement away religious life and toward capitalism. Towns replaced farms and factories created careers, meaning the concepts of upward mobility and leisure time took root.

Image from WikiCommons.

Within fifty years, games had gone from preaching religiosity and hard work to celebrations of easy wealth. Monopoly anyone?

This trend has only continued. Games are no longer thought of as a teaching tool for children, they are more often thought of as entertainment for adults. The messages of morality in Mansions of Happiness have been exchanged for Cards Against Humanity.

But at least games don’t have spinners anymore.

Sources

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Discussing Some of Our Favorite Board Games https://nerdsonearth.com/2021/02/discussing-favorite-board-games/ Tue, 09 Feb 2021 13:05:30 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=34881

In our latest video, we discuss some of our favorite board games.

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We’re discussing some of our favorite board games! Will you discover a must buy that you absolutely must have? We’ll see!

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Holiday Hits: 7 Board Games to Give as Gifts this Year https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/12/holiday-hits-7-board-games-to-give-as-gifts-this-year/ Thu, 03 Dec 2020 13:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=33523

Wondering what to get your board game loving friends or family this year for Christmas? We've got you covered! Here are 7 titles sure to please!

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Are you looking to give a quality board game as a gift this year, yet don’t know where to begin? Well, here are 7 great hobby board games that have been released in the last couple of years and will make for excellent gifts.

Warning, these board games will make you the most popular gift giver, potentially creating jealousy among other family members who foolishly gifted Monopoly because it was $5 at Target.

Board Games to Give as Gifts this Year

New York Zoo

Image from the publisher, Capstone Games.

New York Zoo is a brand new game, so it makes a good gift for that special gamer in your life that enjoys the new hotness. It’s also for that gamer in your life that enjoys Tetris.

New York Zoo works well for families. It’s not a terribly heavy game, but it’s not a pick-it-up-in-30-seconds title either. The gist is you are placing cardboard shapes on a player board to simulate creating zoo enclosures. Then what do you place in a zoo enclosure? That’s right, animals.

It’s cute. And it’s fun as well.

You can get New York Zoo here.

Parks

PARKS Board Game Review, all of the components that you get in the box
Everything that comes in the box!

Parks is a beautiful game. The artwork is amazing, as the illustrations feature National Parks. And when you are giving a gift, you want to give something that looks wonderful.

Parks is also a wonderful game. We’ve done a full review, so I’ll point you there.

Get Parks here and also at big box stores like Target.

Marvel Champions

I wish I could say I won this match.

Marvel Champions is the game for a loved one that loves super-heroic fun. It’s also one of my absolute favorites, so although I will point you to our review, I plan to continue blathering about it.

It works great as a solo game or as a co-op. The base game gives you a wonderful selection of superheroes and the gameplay is wonderful. And new superheroes are released each moth as expansions, so it’s the game that will allow the gift recipient to drop down into a rabbit hole.

Get Marvel Champions here. You won’t regret it.

Back to the Future: Back in Time

Image by the designer, Prospero Hall.

Back to the Future: Back in Time is published by Funko, the makers of Pop! figures, and designed by Prospero Hall, a design firm for hire that specializes in accessible IP games.

You might read the above and think, “Huh. Well that’s not a serious board game.” But I’m telling you: Just because Back to the Future: Back in Time was designed to be sold in Target does not mean it isn’t a great game. It will make an excellent family gift, particularly because it pulls the nostalgia strings as well.

Get Back to the Future: Back in Time here or at Target.

Wingspan

Wingspan is a game about birds. It’s also won game of the year and countless other awards. It’s well-designed; it’s a beautiful game.

We’ve done a full review.

Of all the games on this list, this is the most “prestige” of the games, so it’s makes a nice gift for folks who like to receive the best of things.

Get Wingspan here.

Everdell

A game board with a tree built in really does inject a boost of interest to the table.

Everdell is another beautiful game because, if you are giving something as a gift, presentation matters. It’s also an adorable game that is a lot of fun to play. My wife and I love it.

[Get a fuller look here.]

The game features a big cardboard tree that gives the game a big presence and the artwork of the woodland creatures are adorable. It’s the wonderful combination of A+ presentation mixed with legitimately good gameplay. It’ll be a hit as a gift.

Get Everdell here.

The Crew

Image courtesy of Board Game Bliss.

The Crew is the lightest game on this list, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have depth (and a ton of re-playability).

The Crew is a simple trick-taking game but there is an interesting twist. It consists of a series of 50 missions. Completing a mission requires players to take tricks in a certain way.

It plays so fast that failure means just dealing them out again. And players will want to! It’s the game on this list that provides the easiest opportunity to unwrap the present, then immediately gather family around the table. And at less that $20, it’s a great deal.

Get The Crew here.


There you have it: 7 great board games to consider as gifts this holiday season. And you are giving board games as gifts, aren’t you?

Which titles would you recommend as gifts this year?  Drop in to our Boarderlands Facebook Group, which is a dedicated space for all things tabletop, and let us know!

The post Holiday Hits: 7 Board Games to Give as Gifts this Year appeared first on Nerds on Earth.

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