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Terrible Monster

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Style and Substance
As you’ve probably gathered by now if you follow me on instagram, twitter or facebook, one of the main criteria for a successful Cards or Die game is aesthetic value. Much can be forgiven if your cards or board are pretty and charming and I have definitely fallen for games which favour style over substance before. But, Terrible Monsters has style and substance – win win. Terrible Monster was unleashed on Kickstarter in 2016 by Sweet Lemon Publishing. The illustrations are by Isabel Bollmann.
Cute Beast – Beautiful but deadly
 
One of my other priorities when choosing games for the business is that they are low threshold, high ceiling – by which I mean: easy to learn but with enough complexity to give you seemingly endless options and outcomes. Terrible Monster fulfills this perfectly. It is easy to learn and yet has ample twists and turns, making it unpredictable and challenging. Even at a point where I had carefully planned my apparently hapless opponent’s demise (I only needed to get to my next turn) my plans failed and I ended up defeated!
You think you’ve won but then – Boom! You haven’t.
 
Your objective
Your objective is simply to deal enough damage to kill your opponent. Each player only has 4 life tokens – how hard can it be? <hollow laugh>
Actual hearts – love the artwork
 
Play
Terrible Monster is a game for two players, lasting 5 to 10 minutes. Your turn consists of: drawing a card from the draw pile, playing up to two cards, maintaining your deck of 5 cards. There are three monsters in the pack and spell cards which have various effects. All of the cards state clearly what you must do when you play the card and some cards work together, so you need to consider your choices carefully. For instance, Terrible Monster deals 4 damage and so when played can end the game… but you need to be able to summon it, and both the Leech and Deduction cards allow your opponent to take Terrible Monster from your grasp!
Counter Tokens – use them wisely
 
It is also possible to use counter tokens to block your opponent’s actions but the fact that you only have two of these makes blocking a tricky decision. Do you block now or is it only going to get worse? More intense still – if your opponent blocks your action, you can counter that by using two of your tokens, enabling you to go ahead and attack them – but at what cost? Will you wish you had those later, when they summon Terrible Monster?
 
Strokes of design genius
As I mentioned above, the Terrible Monster card itself is a stroke of genius. It’s a high risk, high gain card. The rules around counter tokens make decisions high stakes which makes for a fun and intense game. Many of the spells let you manipulate the deck, see your opponents cards, move cards around, and snatch victory!
 
I also love that each player gets their own summary outlining the effects of all cards and a brief outline of all rules including order of play. I know many games have these now, but why not all of them? It’s an invaluable aid. I’ve got enough going on with working out whether I want to use my counter tokens or not, without having to remember what my turn consists of!
If you’re designing a game – DO THIS!
 
Join us for a game
And here it is, the predictable, yet shameless plug element of the blog – come and see us at Shepley Spring Festival on 19th -21st May or at The Abbey Inn, Leeds on the first Wednesday of every month if you fancy a game. (Did I mention this is one of over 150 games you can choose from?!)
 
Check out Sweet Lemon‘s website for more brilliant and quirky games.
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Festival Dreams

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You wake up late to the smell of coffee and the sizzle of bacon crisping up. The sun streams into the tent, as you unzip it, fresh air floods in. Gentle music drifts towards you, the folkiness of a melodeon or a favourite song you had almost forgotten. Someone hands you a fresh coffee and a bacon butty made with love and soft white bread and you sit in the doorway of the tent on an airbed that hasn’t deflated at all overnight, watching the festival site waking up.
Isn’t this what happens to you every morning at festivals?
 
OK, ok, this is not a true record of my own experience. I have Earl Grey not coffee. The bed is flat and feels like rocks, and the sound that often seems to herald the morning is this lot (even when they’re ironically playing Brahm’s Lullaby, they’re anything but soothing).
If in reality you lie there trying to work out if you can hear rain or whether it’s the sound of many flags flapping, and you realise that much as you don’t want to get up, if you lie here much longer on your deflated airbed you might not be able to get up at all (how does a muddy field feel like rocks anyway?), then what you need to do is to grab a cuppa and make your way to the games tent.
 
So come visit us at Shepley Spring Festival – May 19th – 21st. Come into our lovely red gazebo, we’ll look after you. We’ll sit you in a nice proper seat, wrap you in soft blankets and teach you games to distract you from your back pain. After all the sound of rain is soothing – it must be true, the internet says so…
…and doubly soothing with the sound of falling Jenga blocks and connect four clattering down…
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Summertime Rolls

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It’s Summer. I know it must be because lots of Morris Dancers got up at ridiculous o’clock this morning to dance the sun up for us. And that’s got me thinking about Summertime games for those lazy summer evenings. While you read on, why not have a background track to get you in the Summer mood…
Neighbours the Board Game
What evokes summer more than throwing a shrimp on the barbie, watching Bouncer splash about in the pool with Scott and Charlene, and cracking out a classic retro game?
Everybody needs good neighbours and you can join forces with yours in The Neighbours board game to create the best plotline ever. I have thoroughly enjoyed playing this game and it’s had good reviews from events too. Now – whenever I read the word “hilarious” in a review part of my soul dies, but honestly Neighbours is hilarious to play (admittedly we consumed wine while we played), but it is a fun game – and the plot lines you create have to be grammatically accurate, which pleases me more than I can tell you. Pretend it’s the 80s, pretend it’s sunny, and dive right in!
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Carcassonne
If for you, Summer is a time of fine wines, medieval castles and drinking dodgy homebrew (that’s basically what Monks did, isn’t it?) then Carcassonne is the game for you. Create your own beautiful settlement with luscious farm lands and well tended gardens. Watch out for robbers and farm boundary confusion (it’s just like The Archers) and ask yourself the perennial Carcassonne question: why do farmers lie down?
Or if you’re feeling really decadent, why not check out the real Carcassonne:
http://fiveminutehistory.com/10-amazing-facts-french-medieval-city-carcassonne/
 
 
 
 
The Morris
And finally, as I eluded to earlier, nothing makes summer for me more than the Morris. Here’s my boy dancing the sun up last year (photo courtesy of Karen Fretwell). My summer is always full of dancing and colour.
On May 19th -21st, I’m excited to be celebrating all things folk at Shepley Spring Festival, bringing with me 150 games. Amongst them is Nine Men’s Morris, which dates back to the Roman Empire, and is referred to by Shakespeare as an outdoor game in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (‘The nine men’s morris is filled up with mud’- Summer and rain how very English; how very festival). Not only does it epitomise Summer but it is the ultimate retro game!
Pit your wits in this traditional strategy game – place and move your pawns carefully, creating ‘mills’ (lines of three), allowing you to remove one of your opponent’s pieces from the game. The game ends when there are no more legal moves left or one player is reduced to two pieces in play. It’s a relatively straightforward strategy game. For me, that makes the perfect strategy game , a few simple rules but lots of potential depth – good for quick play and not too difficult to concentrate on with your pimms or prosecco – another Summer requirement.
But if you can’t wait for Shepley, come and see us at The Abbey Inn, Horsforth on Wednesday night. There won’t be Morris dancing but there will be many, many good games…
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Ssshhh. I have a secret mission for you…

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Before you put on your slightly larger glasses…
…let’s be clear, it’s not an impossible mission or a job which requires a certain set of skills, skills that make you a nightmare for criminals. It is however a mission especially for you…
Choose from 55 Missions – with objectives to connect, care, engage, grow, surprise or create. We are about to embark on the biggest card game in the world: Sneaky Cards/ Play It Forward from Gamewright. The deck is registered and ready to be released into the big wide world. All I need now is you.
 
Taking part is easy – whether it’s leaving a generous tip, baking for a friend or taking a selfie with a stranger – you simply complete the action and pass the card on. You can log the card @sneaky cards and tweet me or contact me on instagram to let me know how you’re getting on.
All that’s left for you to do is choose your mission and get your card: contact me via the website, twitter @cardsordie, facebook @cardsordie, on the first Wednesday of every month at The Abbey Inn, Leeds, or at Shepley Spring Festival (where you can play this card forward – without even breaking sweat).
 
Here are the cards you can choose from:
This blog post will self destruct in 10 seconds….
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MollyFest

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Just got back from enjoying a fantastic festival atmosphere at Mollyfest. Brilliant bands, mud, flowery headbands and a fabulous atmosphere: everything you need. Molly created a very memorable experience for everyone. And as with any festival I’m wiped out today. So, having stared at the computer screen blankly for an hour last night and to save myself from doing that just now, I am just going to share a couple of videos from the event. Enjoy!
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Top 5 Pub Games and A Comparison Graph.

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When I read lists on the internet (an activity I spend more time doing than I care to admit) I often wonder what the criteria was. Maybe it’s the teacher in me. (The eagle eyed among you have already spotted the ‘what went well/ even better if’ feedback model that I used on my feedback forms!). You can’t reward anything without having a clear criteria that you have shared. If there’s a top spot to be awarded, we all want to know how the winner got there.
Which brings me to my criteria for the top 5 pub games. And as with all good success criteria, I may have made some of the words up.

1. Portability
2. Low threshold high ceiling (easy to learn but endless levels of possible challenge)
3. Sociability
4. Quality of components
5. Fun

The upshot of this, of course is (aside from the portability measure) you can apply this to any games, for any event and rate them accordingly. If you wanted you could also give numerical scores and make graphs….

1. Mancala

Mancala is a game I stumbled on by accident. I bought a copy of it solely because I liked the box – I took it to the counter, said ‘Is this a game?’ She said ‘Yes, I think so’ and that was it. Sold. A few weeks of showing it to people and asking ‘What’s this?’ and I had discovered Mancala. (Think Fran in Episode 1 of Black Books.

Mancala is so simple; very easy to learn. And packed into it’s own case it is super portable. For the stores at the ends you can use two glasses or you can buy a version with built in stores. (Just make sure the components are still big enough to use.)
As a game for two it is less sociable than some of the others but it is definitely a fun and addictive game. And the fact only two people are playing doesn’t stop people having an opinion on what you’re doing wrong! I left my copy in the pub at past midnight last games night because people couldn’t tear themselves away from it. It’s a permanent fixture for our Abbey games nights.

The components are satisfyingly tactile. In fact they are so appealing that at a recent wedding fayre, despite the fact they look and feel like antique olives, someone tried to eat one which was an awkward moment, as he dried and replaced it!

2. Skull

Skull is a straightforward game of Bluff. It is easy to play but because if relies on bluff and trying to second guess opponents actions, it feels as though it has endless possibilities. It is fun to play with people you know well, or complete strangers so scores high on sociability.
The cards in the game are well made and beautifully illustrated.

Fun levels can be accurately measured by the spontaneous noise all players make when a Skull is revealed. You can of course win by not bidding, but as a fellow player said on Wednesday – ‘That’s the coward’s way out. The worst sort of winning!’
 
That depends really – winning is, after all, winning!
 

3. Exploding Kittens

Exploding Kittens is a very entertaining card game in which you try to avoid being exploded whilst trying to get someone else blown up in your place.

The cards are entertainingly illustrated by the oatmeal and of course – as it’s a card game it is designed to be portable.

It can be learnt in about 15 minutes and while it isn’t the most challenging game in the world, there is enough variation to keep you entertained for many happy hours. It is probably my most played game as it appeals to people of all ages, all gaming aptitudes and preferences. I have endlessly bought it as a gift for others and it is probably the game I have taught most so far.

http://theoatmeal.com

And, you can always add the Imploding Kittens for more challenge and confusion. Just don’t end up wearing the cone of shame!


4. Obama Llama

Last time I got this out at games night, we had a spontaneous moment while we missed Obama. That in itself was a sociable activity, if somewhat tinged with sadness. Then we got on with the ridiculous task of working out what celebrities rhyme with. You roll the dice to determine whether you have to act out your rhyme, give clues or simply describe your allocated celebrity and their rhyme.

It is very entertaining and certainly easy to learn. It doesn’t score highly on having many possible levels to it: there really isn’t any difficulty at all. But, the components are of a decent quality and it is extremely sociable.

5. Travel Downfall or just Downfall

An MB classic. Both sizes of Downfall are a popular choice. It is easy to learn: simply get your counters through in numerical order. If you want to add challenge you can specify that all of one colour must be first or put your counters in, in a random order but still have them come through in numerical order. There is plenty of challenge available. As for quality of components? Considering the game is about 35 years old I’d say we can confidently score that highly. Fun and socialising is often about banter and lively interactions with friends. Downfall is perfect for this.

We spent many happy minutes shouting at each other and reading the same paragraph of the rules to each other whilst emphasising different words. It all ended happily. Well, I went home so I’m assuming it did. Yet another game I had to abandon at the pub.

On reflection, I should add that to my criteria: leavability?
 
Anyway – just for you. I done a graph.
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I can help you be more ‘hip’.

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(Or do the kids still say ‘peng’? Either way I can definitely be your guide on the route to hip living.)
 
‘But how can I be cooler?’ ‘Please, help me be more ‘with it” I hear you clamour. Here’s how: play more games. Simple. At the moment board and card games are where it’s at: just check out the number of amazing board game cafes springing up. I’ve accidentally become in vogue! This places me in a unique position to help you. You too can be debonair like me.*
 
*any photographic evidence you may stumble upon that suggests I am uncool is ironic and therefore uber cool.
 
If, like some poor unfortunate souls I have met recently, you don’t like games I have a simple solution – a flow chart (what could be cooler than that? I ask you. Again, if you feel flowcharts are deeply uncool I call irony.)
 
Simply identify the reason you hate/ mildly dislike games from the list then read on to find out which game you definitely will enjoy.
 
Next, play the game. Easy. You’re well on your way to achieving ultimate hipness without having to resort to a hipster hair bun.
Finally, take pictures of your game and tweet them to @cardsordie where we will validate your cool status. You’re there: you are the coolest kid on the block. You’re welcome.
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Launch Party Update

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I was going to write a long detailed blog with delicious recipes, life hacks and insights into life, the universe… you get the idea. Then I thought I’ll ‘just’ do my flyer for the launch first. Hahaha ‘just’. Hours later, and with a partner who now regrets asking me ‘would it be better if you tilted that line up slightly?’ it is done. And this is the blog. There are no insights. No recipes. No surprising revelation or amazing thing I did every day for a month and it changed my life. Just this: drawing with a chalk pen isn’t as fun as it sounds.
Feel free to offer constructive criticism or suggestions about this week’s blog- my partner did and he’s just dandy.
A big pile of frustration:
I got there in the end and the flyers are now ordered, thanks to my fearless partner, paint and Vistaprint. Next I need to go on a smarm offensive and convince people to wander the streets of Horsforth flyering. (Yes that’s still a verb).

 

And then we’re onto the fun bit which is where you come in – choosing which games to bring.
 
http://www.cardsordie.com/games-menu
 
Have a look on my menu and tweet me or comment here about the games you would like to play. If there’s one you want that isn’t there, let me know and I’ll look out for a copy.
 
Robert Redford asked me to remind you to like, share and subscribe…
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The social media mirror: shameless self promotion meets self deprecation.

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Recently, I have been spending more and more time shamelessly promoting myself. I have attended Networking events, shared potentially tedious moments from my life on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and spent time in the pub. And spent more time than that reflecting on what a knob I probably am. To persuade you (and me) that I’m not, I’ve organised us a very special night out… read on….
 
The perils and joys of Networking or Blowing your own trumpet:
Networking has been a peculiar but positive experience. For someone with anxiety it is a very particular torture. I have met some lovely, friendly people and, as with most things I have anxiety dreams about, it turned out I didn’t lose my job and I was wearing all my clothes.
 
The first event I attended was mercifully under-attended. Now, I assume some of the attendees were disappointed but that was a good number for me. I could talk to people and felt quite comfortable. (There was also free wine. I’m pretty sure there is no correlation between that and my relaxed state). I left feeling more confident and ready to attend other networking thingys.
 
The second networking event was more difficult on many levels. Firstly, I had to get up at 5.45 a.m. Now, I don’t mind getting up at 5.45 a.m. but I expect there to be a beach or Paris at the other end of my journey not a room full of businessmen. (Some women did arrive which was a relief). The next level of anxiety was that we all needed to stand up and introduce our business. Those who know me will know that when I am anxious, one of my defense mechanisms is a fairly convincing devil may care attitude and attempts at humour. Not useful if you want to be taken seriously. But, I did it. I said a sensible thing. I didn’t cry and no-one lost their job and people were friendly. Me: 1 Anxiety: 0. By the time I scarpered to the safety of home and a reassuring cup of tea, I had actually made some contacts.
 
I have another one coming up. It’s in a bar so that’s promising. Hopefully I can stave off the anxiety dreams until then. (See psychoville for an impression of my anxiety dreams)
Maybe there’ll even be freebies..

Self aggrandizement via the medium of social media

Thanks to the magic (possibly operated by actual witchcraft) of ‘if this then that’:
I am able to simultaneously share updates from my life in triplicate. I highly recommend it as a tool for reaching/ boring a wider audience. And if you have anxiety this is yet another opportunity to scrutinise whether you are actually adding any value to other people’s lives. Joyous.
But, my favourite moment of self marketing wankery was in an e.mail conversation with a friend who casually asked about my business plan to which I replied: ‘I still need to formalise my business plan’. At this point I had no business plan. At all. Now, with a little help from my friends @KerryMG and @Zebra_Marketing I actually have a business plan. Although I have to say Zebra’s contribution was more practical than this Kerry-
 
To the pub
And, in more positive news, I have been spending some quality time with my local – The Abbey Inn, Horsforth (follow them on twitter @thabbeyinn)
This has been my favourite marketing activity to date. (And anxiety free – there’s a booze link again… maybe I can come off the meds and just drink loads of wine??…) And anyway the exciting result of all this hard work and my relentless pr drive is a LAUNCH PARTY!!!!
We are bringing you the opportunity of a lifetime: play games, drink good beer and help a small, local business just starting out on the rocky road to success. Look out for the event on twitter, instagram and facebook. I’ll be all over those naturally.
In other words: on Wednesday 8th March 7pm onwards, join us at The Abbey or I’ll set my cat on you.
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In which I think about gaming with my elders and review Cortex.

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I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again – playing games is good for you; for your social skills and keeping your brain active. In the coming weeks I will be demonstrating the health and social benefits of games in a local retirement home. (By that I mean hanging out and playing games but it’s totally justified and worthy). I’m also hoping to re-learn all those card games I used to know and love but have since forgotten.
 
This excerpt from a report on Bradfield Residential Home which was rated outstanding by The Care Quality Commission (CQC) spells out the importance of activities in Care Homes:
“A wide range of activities were available, based on people’s suggestions and requests, which people’s family and friends were invited to take part in. Spontaneous activities took place and entertainment was provided… People were supported to do what they wanted when they wanted. People led a fulfilled and meaningful life. Staff spent quality time with people to give them emotional support and comfort. Staff reminisced with people about their life and discussed what was happening in the world.”
23 Dec 2015
 
Board games fill me with a warm sense of nostalgia, the sight of a vintage MB box takes me straight back to my childhood. Who better to reminisce with than the generation who, after much careful deliberation, chose those very games and played them with their own children and grandchildren?
What could be more sociable than sitting round a board working out how to thrash your opponents? And for a generation who don’t while away their days watching cat videos on facebook, (I’ve included a short one just for you though) board and card games are a perfect way of forgetting about worldly troubles. And let’s face it there’s a lot of those about.
Described as ‘a brain-busting card game’ by its creators, Cortex is definitely coming with me on my visits. The aim of the game is to build a brain by collecting sets of challenge cards. The cards test you on memory, co-ordination, perception, observation, reasoning and touch.
 
Pictured here, my fragmented brain (before) and my complete brain (after the restorative effects of Cortex).
The touch challenge is ingenious and one that I thought was going to be easy. Turns out that distinguishing a zebra from a teddy bear using only touch is quite tricky.
Spotting the same image repeated and memorising the images on the card are my easiest challenges and these are the cards I find most visually pleasing. I love the retro style prints so maybe that makes it easier for me.
But my nemesis is this chirpy looking guy:
He expects me to label my hands (left is blue, right is red) and number my fingers 1-5. His demands don’t end there though- next I have to match the fingers as shown on his annoyingly cheerful face. I can sometimes co-ordinate myself before my opponent. Rarely, I can put the correctly numbered fingers on the correct part of my face – but never with my tongue still in my mouth. And always in painful slow motion. Most often I just sit staring at my hands in a kind of stupefied panic.
 
It takes about 15 minutes or less to play a game and up to 6 people can play. Looking forward to sharing my love for this game and possibly even mastering my co-ordination. I’ll let you know how that goes…