Katie & Scott & Simon & Cecily.
We have company over and have been eating, playing board games, and rocking out as Raspberry Diet all night.
I wish the best 4th of July that you can imagine, and I hope this day is one you remember for years!
Or at least, a few weeks.
Happy Birthday, America, and keep being awesome.
At Hunter’s birthday two days ago, I played a partial game of Agricola, which is a rousing game of agriculture. You’re a farmer who expands your hut, has kids, grows plants, and stables animals. Fictionally.
We didn’t finish the game because we went and watched Wolverine instead and then it got late and I was tired. Besides, Ira was quite clearly ahead. But I enjoyed it, perhaps most because of the very complexity that overwhelmed me at first.
Each turn has a wide array of choices and the additional improvement/occupation cards only serve to add a nice luck factor at the start of the game that forces an actual strategic plan being formed at the start of every game.
The best board games are like that. Or, I should say, my favorite kinds of board games, as I’m not sure that everyone considers those games I like best as their favorites. I like games that are hugely strategic (a lot of open knowledge, the ability to affect other player’s decisions indirectly, and late-game play that is affected strongly by early-game play), but I also enjoy having a luck factor that makes each game different.
Most games tend to fall slightly on one side or the other; it’s hard to find that perfect balance, but a lot of my favorite games tend to find enough of a balance. Puerto Rico is a bit too deterministic, Catan a bit too luck based. Still, both are fun games.
That’s not something you find with most video games. It’s hard to find a game where you’ll match minds with other humans in such a strategic way, because most popular multiplayer video games are based on reaction time and fast fingers. Even some of the better puzzle games are still fast-moving games that aren’t turn-based. Video game developers are scared of making turn-based games that aren’t single player because, well, they’re kind of boring.
Having to wait an entire turn for someone else to think and move and do all the complex things a normal strategy game requires. But where are the turn-based games where turns are quick little affairs? Why are the only turn-based multiplayer video games those that require moving armies and troops and setting up resource and research points?
There is the small collection of video games based on board games, like Catan on XBLA and some card game variations, but there are very few video games built on taking turns from the ground up.
Perhaps it’s too hard a sell for a game like that. Or maybe it just hasn’t been done well yet.
I was talking my friend Dan through the Internet today about a variety of topics and I expressed that I had, just this season, found myself becoming a bit of a fan of the Oakland A’s – our local baseball team.
I attributed this sudden liking to several factors: we recently bought a house less than 5 miles away from the stadium, star outfielder Matt Holliday is on both my fantasy teams, and the team has two young promising pitching prospects. And there’s nothing that gets me excited like prospects, be they young baseball players, untapped rivers where gold nuggets are to be found, or a variety of eligible bachelors.
He then mentioned that he liked their GM, Billy Beane, because he consistently managed the team well, while having to deal with the budget of a small-market team. He also mentioned that Beane pioneered the use of the statistical analysis that most baseball teams now use (in some format) for evaluating players.
Which got me thinking: I like numbers. Deep in my heart, behind the emotions and aorta, I often think that most things can be determined by numbers.
And I find numbers comforting. If my fantasy baseball players are performing poorly right now, but their past numbers indicate that this is well outside the realm of how they’ll finish the year, all I have to do is wait. The numbers say that they’ll get better, and the numbers know a lot more than I do.
I can look back on the amount of money our household has spent on the past 6 months on dining out at restaurants versus groceries and they will inform me of trends and patterns that are helpful for future planning of both finances and food.
Numbers calm me down when I think about things like plane crashes or random murders or meteors crashing into my house.
I also really like math. I love being able to distill decisions down to a simple (or not so simple) equation. That’s probably also why I like games so much. Video games tend to have some of these decisions (RPGs and games with inventory management have more), but Euro-style board games are essentially an hour-long exercise in making decisions based on math.
I think I’d like managing a professional sports team, although I don’t know if I could deal with all the hate mail. Or all the athletes.
A continuation of sorts!
Musical: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Honorable Mention: Rent
Hedwig is the only musical that I’ve seen twice in the same run. It’s one of the first musicals that I went to with my future wife, it starred Anthony Rapp in it, and it’s the primary reason that Katie works in the theatre. The songs rock, the story is funny and sad, and it’s a one-man show that never quite feels like the typical one-man show. I doubt I’ve listened to the soundtrack as much as I’ve listened to Rent, but no two live performances of Hedwig are the same; it manages to capture the absolute joy of live theatre.
Video Game: Portal
Honorable Mention: Ico
The mark of a truly great game for me is the feeling of regret that I have when I realize that I will never again get to experience it for the first time. Portal is a game where I would gladly watch someone else play it, just so I can vicariously experience it again for the first time. It is a brilliantly designed puzzle game that just happens to be controlled as if it were a FPS. It has a superb storyline and witty dialogue. The companion cube and the end credits song are already iconic in gaming canon. It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction. Portal exceeded all of my already high expectations.
Ico is a different matter. I played Ico when I was still just getting into games and it took me by complete surprise. It was the first game I ever consumed over a weekend, playing it because I didn’t want to do anything else. It’s probably the first game that showed me the emotional power that the medium was capable of.
Radio Show: This American Life
Honorable Mention: Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me
It’s a smaller pool to pick from, as there aren’t all that many radio shows, but I’d be hard pressed to find any other 60-minute aural experience that beats This American Life. The show manages to continually find stories that are interesting and thought-provoking and I look forward to hearing each week’s podcast when I go to work on Monday. Wait Wait is a bit lighter, but it keeps me updated on major news, as well as being consistently good for a laugh. I’m not a big podcast person, but these two shows have a permanent spot on my list.
Board Game: Settlers of Catan
Honorable Mentions: Power Grid, Category 5
Neither of these are really daring picks, but in the long run, I think I’d take Settlers over other games I’ve played. It’s relatively easy to teach to new players, is a great gateway game for players who haven’t played many Eurogames before, and has a great balance between luck and skill involved. The fact that it forces direct player interaction through trading is icing. Power Grid and Category 5 are on opposite sides of Settlers; Power Grid is a bit more hardcore and Category 5 is a bit lighter. I love the critical decision-making in Power Grid, especially as decisions in earlier phases can have large impacts in later phases. And I love the tension in Category 5 as you attempt to read the minds of your fellow players just before you flip over your numbers.
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