admin, Author at Cards or Die

What’s in your bag?

The answer is of course subject to whim and fancy but amongst the plasters, knee supports, notebooks, tiger balm, tissues, pens, paracetamol and parts of games there always nestles a little game. For those moments when you fancy a quick game: the queues, the waits, the cuppa stops or, when you look at your family and think ‘here are some people who need to interact with each other more’.
 
Geistes Blitz
This is a game of speedy reactions – flip the card then either grab the object shown or if the object does not feature you must work out with lightning deduction which item and colour is not depicted. Grab the wrong object and your go is over and you’ve just helped your opponents along.
 
The first couple of rounds of this were painful for me. For your first game I would recommend that you play against your peers rather than your heartless offspring. But before I had time to abandon all hope (which can happen remarkably quickly) I grasped it!
 
And the more rounds you play, the faster you get. It’s addictive, like a kind of hardcore spot the difference.
 
It quickly earned its place on permanent rotation with a few other games in my bag.
 
Don’t be fooled by her cute ears- she’s a stone cold victor!

Who Did It?
If you are tired of Poo! but have not grown out of finding faeces funny then this is a good, solid choice.
 
You need three players for this so although it regularly has a place in my bag it’s better when there are more people (up to 5). Handily, I have created a 5 person family. 
 
Each person gets a hand of animal cards; each card is the potential culprit who has defecated in the living room. 
The first player places their card down with the words (for example) ‘My cat didn’t do it, someone’s parrot did it.’
The first player to slap their parrot card on the cat has proved their innocence and declares ‘My parrot didn’t do it, someone’s rabbit did it’…. and so on… until everyone but one player plays all their cards in which case the last remaining player holds the culprit OR, you accuse an animal that no one holds and then you lose the round.
 
This last condition is the real genius of the game and moves it beyond a game of snap where the fastest reaction wins every time. You must be the fastest and remember the cards which have been played: boss both of these to ensure you don’t end up with the poo.

Zombie Dice.
I know that I have mentioned this one many times but thanks to our added soundproofing (a layer of felt glued to the inside of the insanely noisy box) it’s often rattles round quietly inside my bag. I love push your luck games and the element of probability alongside the tactile nature of the dice makes this game a firm favourite. I’m only disappointed that the markings on the dice aren’t more engraved and distinct as it could be so perfect for players who are blind or visually impaired.
 
Red dice contain more gunshots; green, more delicious brains and amber, an even mix of fleeing victims, brains and gunshots. Each turn you draw up to three dice and roll to see if you will feast or fail. It’s a low scoring game – once you get your head round that it is much easier to win. But win or lose the repetitive rolling of dice coupled with the thin veil of strategic thinking keeps me quiet for ages. And, as my family will tell you – that’s not to be sniffed at.

Heartcatchers

Heartcatchers is a fabulous little two player game. And when I say ‘little’ I am not being pejorative – it really is tiny with only 20 cards in the slim box. 
 
The aim of the game is predictably to catch the most hearts, gaining bonuses and avoiding penalty cards. The ‘secrets’ – bonuses and penalty cards are played face down while you capture your opponents card stacks brazenly using face up hearts.
 
This is a game of bluff, strategy and memory. Do you put a -3 card down under your own stack in the hope your opponent thinks it must be a +3 and captures it? Or do you put the +3 under your own and hope to hang on to it? How long do you risk waiting before you steal the stack you want?
 
The game is brutally fast. I’ve just about worked out which cards I want when it’s all over. It’s one of those beautiful games that you want to replay immediately using a different strategy. And you can play again and again testing out different strategies whilst trying to second guess your opponent’s. 
 
It’s certainly captured my heart.*
 
*Look, I’m sorry. I genuinely held that in as long as I could. It had to come out. Is now a good time to point you back to the poo pun?
 
Solo Puzzle games

My most recent bag essential has been not one but three solo puzzle games. These are perfect for those moments when you look at your family and think ‘here are some people who need to interact with each other a lot less. Before someone loses an eye’
 
Each of the games comes with a booklet of puzzles steadily increasing in difficulty, which you can work your way through. They are incredibly absorbing and actually it’s hard to watch someone without joining in. Unless of course you have gone to sit in a different part of the pub while you enjoy the silence from a distance. 
 
Seriously though, these are great for adults and children and although they are solo puzzles, when it comes to problem solving two heads are almost always better than one!
 
 
All of the games we review are available to try at Cards or Die events – join us or book us for your own event! 
 
Other previously reviewed excellent games you might want to bag (click on the links to read more)
Love Letter – Cards or Die also have a braille version of this 
Assembly
Gobblin Goblins
Dobble and Poo
Quirk!
Join us at a Cards or Die event and try them out. 

My Big Potato Games Box – Part One: the quizzes.

Obama Llama and Bucket of Doom have long been staples at Cards or Die events so I was very excited when I recently received a box full of goodness from Big Potato games. I thought I’d give you a quick peek in the box! All of these games have gone down a storm at my events. They play either in teams or for larger groups which instantly makes them sociable games. All are easy to learn and many of them follow similar principles. Here, I’m going to look at the quiz based games. 
 
Weird Things Humans Search For

Plays 3-20
Age 14+
Duration 20mins
 
This is the newest offering from Big Potato games. To win your team needs to complete the sentence with the most commonly googled term. You gain points for correct answers and the team with the most points wins. If you enjoy Google Feud then you’ll enjoy this. 
Despite the fact that the game relies on guesswork the content makes it very entertaining. There is definitely a balance to be struck as if you’re answers are too bizarre, they often don’t feature and then we’re just all laughing at you. But go too tame and you are left marvelling at just how odd some people are.
 
For a quick taster have a go at these – answers at the bottom!
why are babies so…?
can you marry…?
When I say answers, I can only actually provide the end of the questions. Only google knows if boogers are dead brain cells! 
 
Played over 5 rounds it’s quite a quick game and plenty of fun. (N.B. It’s too difficult for cats.)
 
Mr Lister’s Quiz Shootout

Plays 3+
Age 14+
Duration 30 mins
 
Collect five different drinks bottles (shown on the reverse of the quiz card) to win. Write down as many answers as you can and in ‘quick fire style’ teams alternate – firing off one answer at a time. Each team gets three shots and at the end of that time the team with the most hits, wins the card. Each card features a last chance saloon question to settle any draws.
 
You can also use collected cards to swap for a drink you need or to confiscate a drink from another team. Nothing says ‘team’ like working together to screw over the opposition.
 
There are a mixture of topics from the banal to the ridiculous and the ridiculously tricky: list the UK’s 8 largest supermarket chains; list the 9 types of brass instrument in a symphony orchestra or the 10 most common animals sent into space! 
 
This is a perfect game for any social event. It is a fun mix of common sense, random knowledge that you read somewhere and good old fashioned guess work! 
 
Colour Brain

Plays 2-20
Age 14+
Duration 20
 
A multi choice quiz with a difference – all of the answers are colours. Be the first team to reach 10 points to win. It’s not enough to get it right though – you only score points if at least one team gets it wrong. In fact, you earn one point for each team that gets it wrong so the more people that fail, the more decisive your victory. 
 
Each team has one colour catcher card which enables them to steal colours from the leading team. You can only use it once so you must do so wisely!
 
Colour brain is a fun, lighthearted quiz game which contains some surprising revelations – such as: the colours of mourning in China; Hetty the Hoover and Uranus. So, if you’ve a burning urge to discover the colour of Uranus then you need to play Colour brain. 

Truth Bombs
 

Plays 4-8
Age 14+
Duration 20mins
 
Truth Bombs jokingly mentions that it could ‘destroy your relationships’ which initially put me off a bit. My children were impressed with the fact it was created by Dan and Phil (they’re youtubers apparently), I was indifferent about that but I thought I’d share that knowledge – you’re cool enough to know them. Right? I am so glad I let them nag me into playing it with them. It’s a brilliant game and such a good laugh. 
 
You answer questions about each other and then you have to choose your favourite answer. It can act as a test of who knows you best or if you are playing with some people you know less well then you can just choose the funniest answer. Either way, it’s very entertaining. You gain points by correctly identifying who wrote your favourite answer and by being the person who writes the favourite answer! The best responses involve creativity and wit. 
My favourites were: 
If there was a fire what would I save? The Boardgames (not the children) Worryingly one of my children wrote that and I hasten to add it is inaccurate. I would save my gold first.
If I invented an app what would it be? Poe-c’mongo (an Edgar Allen Poe themed catch ’em all game)
Someone needs to get on with designing that app!

First dates
 
Plays 4-10
Age 17+
Duration 20mins

The aim of the game is to be the best matched couple in the restaurant by scoring more points than anyone else throughout the meal. The question cards are divided into Starters, Mains and Desserts. 
 
One couple answers the question while the other couples can win bonus points by correctly predicting whether the couple answering will agree or disagree.
 
This is not a game for the faint-hearted or easily embarrassed (i.e. me!). Some questions are innocuous ‘Who kept believing in Santa for the longest?’ whilst others are toe-curlingly awkward ‘Who is more likely to pay for sex?’. And some of the others are just too inappropriate for me ‘Who is more likely to have a nervous breakdown?’
 
Having said that, lots of people enjoy it and have a laugh playing it. I would suggest it’s a game for playing with friends who you trust and not one for after Christmas Lunch with the family! And if you have a high embarrassment threshold then give it a whirl.

So, if you’re looking for something fun, sociable and mildly educational (by educational we mean you’ll know yet more random crap) then look no further – Big Potato games have just the thing for you. Try them at a Cards or Die event: check the Come and See Us page to find out more.
 
The ‘answers’ – how did you do?

My Big Potato Games Box – Part Two

There were so many fab games in my Big Potato box of goodness that I have split them over two blogs. Click on the link to see Cards or Die’s events and Come and See Us to try them out before you buy. And click here to checkout the games crate on Big Potato games. 
While some of the games are inappropriate for younger players, I would urge you to have a look and judge the contents yourself as some of the games – such as Mr Lister and Truth Bombs are fun for younger ones too. My children 10, 11 and 13 really enjoy those in particular, making them perfect family games.
 
Chameleon

Plays 3-8

Age 14+

Duration 15mins

The aim of the game is to suss out who the chameleon is without revealing the secret word to them. Even once you have correctly identified the chameleon they can slip from your grasp if they can deduce the secret word.

The game offers a reasonable degree of challenge, hence the 14+ rating – you need a decent vocabulary to be able to tackle the game successfully. As the Chameleon you need to be able to think on your feet and choose an appropriate word which links to what everyone else has said. All players need to choose words vague enough to not reveal the secret word and not so obtuse that everyone thinks you’re the chameleon and so you allow the chameleon to escape.

This is a fun, social party game. It’s another quick one so you can cram lots of gaming into your evening! I really like the big chunky dice it comes with. Plus another really cool elements is the blank laminate card so you can create your own categories and secret words over and over again.

Scrawl

Plays 4-8
Age 17+
Duration 30mins
 
Unlike many other drawing games in this one, points are won through terrible drawing and ridiculous guesses. A huge relief to those who die a little on the inside every time Pictionary, Cranium or Picture This come off the games shelf!
 
You start with a scenario which is entertaining in its own right: whether it’s a cannibal finger buffet or the never-ending poo. Then you draw the best image you can and pass it on. The next person covers your image and writes down what they think you drew. The next person now draws whatever the writing says. It’s like Telephone* but with drawings!
At the end of the process, you lay out all the responses and choose your favourite work of art and award points. In the unlikely event that the final drawing matches the original scenario you win a whopping 3 points! But remember it’s not called ‘Great works of Art’ or even ‘Art: the abstract movement’. It’s called Scrawl and for good reason!
 
(*also known as Chinese Whispers)
 Obama Llama 

Plays 4+
Age 14+
Duration 30mins
 
Obama Llama is the first Big Potato game that I bought. It’s always very popular and we enjoy playing at home too. It’s one of those that the children want to get out when we go to board game cafes! Because that’s why you go to a cafe – to play a game you already own!! It went down a storm at a recent Women’s Institute evening (picture above).
 
It’s the perfect party game as it combines two of the most Christmassy games – Charades – with Pairs. Think Lionel Blair meets Jay-Z. Solve three rhymes for your chance to find a matching pair, and the most pairs wins. When you realise your Aunt is miming Mary Berry missing a ferry, you know you’ve struck comedy gold. One for before the sherry soaked Christmas Pudding! 
 
And of course you don’t need to wait for Christmas, get your rhyming on any time you like!
 
Bucket of Doom

Plays 3+
Age 17+
Duration 30mins
 
Another classic. I like this because it is a silly but non-offensive alternative to Cards Against Humanity. You can read a review here. 
 
Come along and play at a Cards or Die event. 

Brain Games – come and have a go if you think they’re hard enough!

It might just be me but this heatwave has slowed my brain down. I feel sluggish, struggle to concentrate long enough to find out whether the lie detector result is surprising on Jeremy Kyle and I lose my car keys twice a day (which is an increase of 50%). It got me thinking that I should play some games which increase my brain power. So I raided the Cards or Die library and had a go at these brainy games. Have a go at them yourself – I’ve included a sample from each game. I’m not asking for much – I don’t want enough brain power to develop psychic powers and take over the world… although…
To be honest I’d just settle for less time searching for my sodding car keys and less time getting lost on journeys. So, here are my findings. 
Mindtrap
Spears Games 1993

The fact that the winning conditions of this game require you to reach the end of an optical illusion tells you everything you need to know about the brain power required here. There are two paths – one shorter than the other. 
Play in teams or as an individual and solve the riddles and puzzles to move along your chosen path. It’s a tricky game that appeals to the more cryptic brain. 
Here are a few examples to get those little grey cells working!

Verdict This has not made me any cleverer (and certainly hasn’t made me feel any cleverer) but it is perfect for people who enjoy riddles and problem solving. And perfect for the pub as it doesn’t take up much space. 
 
Enigma
Alexander Duncan 1998

Enigma is similar to Mindtrap in that it in order to win you must solve riddles. You can play as a team or as individuals to move through the maze. The winner is the first to arrive in the centre and then solve a final riddle without being given a clue. As you move through the maze you will land on riddle points (blue triangles). Solving the riddle without a clue will earn you the right to move further towards the centre, request a clue and you still advance – just not as far. Get it wrong here and there is no consequence. However, if you fall into a pit of ignorance (A blue and gold diamond) then you must solve a riddle without a clue to escape and move on. This can (and when we played, definitely did) lead to many missed turns.

Verdict
Honestly, this game is way too clever for me. Getting lost in a pit of ignorance is not much fun after a while it’s all a bit too much like trying to drive to… well, most places. But if you thrive on exercising your brain then you should try this one out. 
 
Sci-Fi Trivia
MMG 1994

My daughter recently asked a question about a game in our local Geek Retreat, she prefaced it with the words “You’re a nerd genius, you’ll know this…” 
That would serve well as a preamble for any of the questions featured here. 
A roll of the die determines which question you or your team will answer from the following topics: The Golden Age, Multi Media, New Wave, Cult Movies, Cult TV or The Classics. If you leave aside the confusing and arbitrary nature of these categories and don’t try to work out when any of them refer to, you can enjoy a challenging game which will test your memory and knowledge. 
Pleasingly the rules refer to he/she throughout. (See, it’s really not that difficult. You may also note that I have used second person when explaining to you how to play- I don’t find it a challenge not to assume everyone is a white man. But I digress, that’s a whole other blog).

Verdict
This is not a quiz for those of limited Sci-Fi commitment. It is not enough that you watched Star Trek once or that you were delighted when they announced that woman off of Broadchurch* was going to be Dr Who. However, if you are a nerd genius then this is the quiz for you.
 
(*I know it’s Jodie Whittaker. I’m being sardonic.)
 
Backwords
Random House 1988

In this game for 3 to 8 players (or teams) you work towards your graduation from the University of Reversity by solving as many backwards words as you can. There are Exam cards which you collect throughout the game with trickier spellings on. These are saved until you or your team reach the University to sit your final exams – you can also get rid of these by landing on the same space as an opponent. There are clues on the cards that you can choose whether to use. All of the backwords are helpfully spelled phonetically to enable you to read them easily.
Here are some examples – of course we need to remember that hearing them read aloud is A LOT more challenging than seeing them written down!

Verdict
I enjoy word games so I like the challenge of this one. It’s so much harder than you expect it to be. I’ve read about children who invented secret codes and languages using backwards spelling, so if you’re one of those kids you should find it a lear ezeerb!
 
Brain Box
Green Board Game Co 2007+

Brain Box is much more my level. There are no riddles or specialist knowledge here – just plain old observation and memory. The parts of my brain that this uses are the ones I worry about most and am keen not to lose. There are different Brain Boxes to choose from – The World, Roald Dahl and The 1990s! 
You have a scant 10 seconds to study the card you are given, you then roll the die and your opponent asks you the corresponding question. Have a go at the one below – scroll to the bottom for the questions.

Verdict
I enjoy this game; it’s fast paced, fun and you can play it with all the family. It doesn’t rely on specialist knowledge or skills, which makes it more accessible. Admittedly it is the least challenging game here but it still exercises my brain and I’m happy with that!
Cortex
Captain Macaque 2016

Of all the brain games, this is my absolute favourite. The aim of the game is to build a brain by collecting sets of challenge cards. You win the challenge cards by being first to cover the card with your hand and give the correct answer. The cards test you on memory, co-ordination, perception, observation, reasoning and touch. 
 
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 image featured most frequently 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. 

See how quickly you can solve the following: 
Maze – which is the exit?

Colour – which word is written in its own colour?

Pairs – which is there two of?

Spatial Awareness – Which shape fits in the space?

Verdict
Described as ‘a brain-busting card game’ by its creators, Cortex is certainly a game that challenges you in lots of different ways. The nice thing about this game is that everybody seems to excel in one skill or other, whether it’s memory, colour recognition or touch. It means that some cards are easier than others which gives it a pleasing balance. No-one wants to be so challenged that they feel like they’re losing all the time. That’s just not fun. 
 
Overall Verdict
I’m not sure whether playing these games has actually made me cleverer or just highlighted which bits of my brain don’t work so well. Either way, I’ve had fun trying and it’s all about the taking part. Right? Now where did I put that copy of Dobble…?
 
So… how did you do?
The Answers

Guest Blog – Calvin Wong Tze Loon (@ithayla)

Hi I’m Calvin and you may have read a twitter thread I did about cultural appropriation; what it is, why it’s Not Good, and how to avoid it. (click here)
 
One of the more common ways the hobby tends to perform cultural appropriation is Asian-themed board games (usually ancient, feudal, or imperial Japan/China) where no one involved with the actual production is Asian – unlike the three games I’m spotlighting today!
 
Three Kingdoms Redux
Designers Christina Ng Zhen Wei and Yeo Keng Leong. Artist Ray Toh.
 
The heaviest of the bunch, 3KR is a worker placement game set during the decades-long conflict between the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Wu, and Shu.

Featuring constantly-fracturing alliances, economic management, and political maneuvering, the game’s greatest conceit is the workers themselves; dozens of historical figures from scribes to kings, great generals and logisticians.

Each of the game’s three factions has dozens of these characters, which you gain over the course of the game and deploy to upgrade technology, grow rice, and wage war – and each has unique stats, special abilities, combat prowesses…
 
Wielding your workers properly is the heart of 3KR, which is also one of the most gorgeous and thinky eurogames I’ve ever played. If you’re looking for something deep, historically and thematically rich, Three Kingdoms Redux is a masterpiece of asymmetrical design.
 
The Legend of Korra: Pro Bending Arena
Designers Sen-Foong Lim, Jessey Wright
 
Earth. Fire. Air. Water. These words either stir a great poetry deep in your heart, or you haven’t watched the show.

TLoK: PBA is a two player head-to-head board game based on Pro-Bending: a three on three team sport where an earth, fire, and water bender use their powers to manipulate the elements and try to knock the opposing team out of the arena.

Featuring iconic characters from the series and intense, fast cardplay, TLoK:P- Korra will have you thinking about positioning, defense, and trying to figure out your deck construction as you try to outwit and outmaneuver your opponent.
 

Korra brings kick-butt action in an accessible package – once you’ve figured out some rules quibbles, the gameplay is more than deep enough to keep you going for a long, long time.
 
Paleolithic
Designers Chih-Fan Chen, Chi Wei Lin. Artist Meng-Jung Yang
 
Releasing this Essen, Paleolithic is a family weight worker placement game set in pre-historic Taiwan and it looks LIKE THIS

Move your tribes people and animal companions around, gather resources, and earn artifacts to score points. Colorful, delightful, and fast, Paleolithic is a fantastic introduction to the worker placement genre with such amazing production values.
 

For additional complexity, the Seafarers and Dawn of Humanity expansions add more decisions (AND ANIMALS. YOU CAN GET A MAMMOTH) but not so much so that younger players won’t be able to keep up.
 
Thank you for reading! Thanks also to Ann and Eilidh for inviting me to do a guest post – and I hope you have a great time at your next gaming session no matter what you play.

The Dangers of Gateway Games

It starts off innocently enough; a mild interest, or reminiscing. Maybe you visit your parents and come home with an armful of ‘soft games’: Connect 4, Kerplunk and Cluedo. They sit, neatly tessellating on the shelf till one rainy day you get them out. You play ‘Connect 4’ five or six times until you feel it’s too easy. You need something harder.

As you chat, you remember you once owned Downfall. And it was good. Then to e-bay and oooh – they don’t just have Downfall but also Deflection. You haven’t heard of it but it says MB so it must be good. I mean, that’s the dealer you got Connect 4 from and while you couldn’t identify him in a line up, he was reliable and he’s only asking for a bit more money for Deflection.
 
Deflection arrives with Downfall. They are beautiful. Exactly what you needed, much harder. Before you slide the tray or turn the wheel you are thinking carefully, planning your moves. No more glibly dropping counters for you. You have progressed.

You need to speak to someone, so you ring your sister. She reminds you of Bank Holiday weekends playing Monopoly and you crave that time again. You read online that Monopoly is no longer cool. The new board gamers you associate with in board game dens under railway arches (draughts!) laugh when you mention it. They assume you are being ironic and you are too scared to admit the truth. Secretly, you order it on e-bay. It’s just the travel version. All your games still fit on one shelf. You’ve got this. You’re in control.

You spend your days scouring the charity shops. You buy Game of Life, Go for Broke. You lie to your new friends. Which turns out to be easy because not only do you want all the retro games but you need the latest, strongest new games too. You love playing Codenames, and Ultimate Werewolf. You were delighted when the Exploding Kittens Expansion Pack arrived. 
 Once you went cold turkey and spent a week not going on Kickstarter. They sent someone round to check you were still alive; that your groaning shelves hadn’t collapsed, trapping you under the plethora of games you now own, leaving you surrounded by loved ones who miss you but know it’s the way you’d have wanted to go.
 
You need these new friends in your life, they understand that you lie to your family about the cost of games. You’re currently working with one of them to formulate a justification for buying Pandemic before payday. He recently spent his wedding fund on some netrunner cards (his fiance was complicit). If anyone can bail you out, he can.
 
Before you know it, your games don’t tessellate, your daily e.mails from kickstarter are out of control and you can no longer afford the extension you so desperately need to store all your board games in because you spent all your money on board games.
 
Need help? Is your habit out of control?
Get in touch. We can’t help you, you’re beyond that but we can empathise, and we can recommend some games that will take the edge off…

 Come along to a Cards or Die event and play some games!

Guest Blog – Jackson Pope

Hi, I’m Jackson Pope (@jackson_pope) and I self-publish hand-crafted board and card games as Eurydice Games. I’m here today to talk about Craft Wednesday, a celebration of crafting in tabletop gaming that I run every Wednesday on twitter using the #CraftWednesday hashtag.
 
I started Craft Wednesday after attending a training course for work during which they presented research on how much more likely you were to reach your goals if you had an ‘accountability partner’ – someone checking in on you to see how you’re progressing, offer encouragement and celebrate your victories.

A cast and painted treasure pile by @Raven_elf 
 
I’m a keen gamer and a maker of things – I’m always making something, and for the second time in my life that is hand-crafting small print runs of games I’ve designed (I’ve hand-crafted over 600 games). It struck me that with my passion for gaming and crafting I could build a community of people who are also games-related crafters and act as their accountability partner to help them reach their goals.
 
Each week on Wednesdays I share the coolest crafting things I’ve seen on twitter over the last week and then check in with all the members of the community to see how they are getting on with their projects. It’s one big thread so people often start discussions and project support and feedback on each other’s projects too. On Thursday mornings I roll up all the responses into a twitter moment for easy reading.

A laser-cut insert for Near and Far by @semicoop
 
Craft Wednesday has been running for over six months now and we’ve built up a great community of people who support and encourage each other. We’ve had people within the community do business with each other and it’s great to watch people’s projects as they progress from week to week – it’s really inspiring.
 
Craft Wednesday covers the whole gamut of games related crafting. We have people making prototypes of their own designs, print and play copies of a game, upgraded pieces for a game they’ve bought, and even gaming tables.

Laser-cut interlocking dice tumblers by @C_M_Young
 
We have people painting miniatures, making tabletop scenery, using laser-cutters or 3D printers or just drawing things by hand.
 
We have designers, publishers, artists and businesses, all united by their passion for crafting games-related stuff.
 
Do you make things related to tabletop gaming? Why not get involved? Just reply to my Craft Wednesday tweet on any Wednesday and I’ll include you in the community.

Guest Blog – Hannah Johnson (@HanPlans)

This week we’ve got a great blog from the lovely Hannah Johnson, all about community and belonging. Boardgaming has become my community and I’ve developed a great support group from those close by as well as those miles away. Twitter has given us all a great support group, including Hannah, so here’s her story…
 
As I write this, it’s Wednesday. I’m stood at the bus stop attempting to find a small piece of shade. I don’t cope in the heat very well so doing the school run in this heat is driving me a little crazy. I have 8 minutes until I have to collect my son and 6 minutes until the bus arrives. I know, that’s close and means I’ll be late. Not only does it feel like an oven but today isn’t exactly going to plan, which is why I’m writing this stood at the bus stop instead of my desk or the kitchen table! 
 
Anyway, let’s do this thing! 
 
Hello, I’m Hannah. I live in Bedford with my family. There’s Jaxon, my 3 year old ball of energy, Our Sidekick who is our 19 year old foster son and Chris, my lovely husband. When I’m not being Mum/Foster Mum to my boys, I can be found either in front of the computer running my own business or blogging or crocheting / knitting in front of the television. I watch far too much TV to the point I think I should have a PhD in TV Medical Dramas!

Each week I have two knitting groups. One meets in a local cafe and the second meets in a pub (which kind of doubles as a bar/coffee shop during the day). While at the group this morning, I looked around the table at the ladies who come too this week. I realised that without the knitting groups our paths probably wouldn’t have crossed and yet, those ladies I would probably class as my best friends. 
 
After group this week, most of the ladies had left to get on with the rest of their days, three of us ending up staying and chatting a bit longer and it was so lovely. Okay not so much the subject matter but the fact that one of the ladies felt she could confide in us was just lovely. 

So how did I end up in these knitting groups. Well thank you social media for something good but first we have the not so good. 
 
Four years ago when my son arrived, I attempted to find a baby group that we could go to but for one or another reason we could never quite find that worked for us. Now maybe I was being picky but the groups just weren’t working for us. Somehow along the route in the end my paths crossed with Laura. Laura and a mutual friend called Emma were starting a knitting / crochet group at the Pavilion in the Park here in Bedford and would I like to come. 
 
Well, yes I would give it a go but on that first day I was so nervous. What if my son choose that today he’d kick off and refuse to sit still? What if we got there and it wasn’t really him friendly and we had to leave earlier than we planned? So many questions were running through my mind. Well I certainly needn’t worry. There were four or five of us that first week and we got on like we’d known one another for years which was great.  
 
Well that was 3ish years ago, our group now has about 15-20 ladies depending on what else is going on. We’ve got our little groups within that, that we have broken off into. I love that our little group covers a wide range of ages and backgrounds. I’d say that some of these ladies are my best friends and I am really blessed to have them in my life.
 
Sometimes taking the step out of your comfort zone is what you need to find your people. Sometimes it’s hard and sometimes it’s easy. He baby groups were hard but the knitting group was easy.

Most recently we’ve come together on a yarn bombing project which was great fun and has brightened up the Pavilion a bit more. It was all thanks to our friend Estelle coming up with the idea and co-ordinating it. We then did our own bit by making flowers, butterflies and ice creams amongst other bits. Hopefully they will be up across the Summer and people can take a look when they come for the Shakespeare productions by Oddsocks and the Bedford Park Concerts in August.

Guest Blog – Meeple Like Us

It’s almost time again for the Spiel des Jahres – it’s the closest thing we have to Oscars for board games. What I’d like to take this guest post opportunity to do is talk about the role the Spiel des Jahres can play in helping ensuring our hobby becomes as inclusive as it possibly can be.
 
The various categories of the Spiel des Jahres are important. You know that already otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading this article. The awards, and their nominees, are an intense subject of speculation amongst board-game connoisseurs the world over. There are real cultural and economic rewards that come from being nominated, and greater rewards still for the games that win. More than anything else, what success in this respect implies is accessibility in various senses of the word. A winner will be mechanistically accessible to those that play – you won’t need to be an expert to understand or excel. A winner will be economically accessible to those that look to purchase it – it won’t be eye-wateringly expensive and full of luxury plastics. It will be logistically accessible to people across the world – it’s a game you’ll find in German supermarkets and anywhere they sell hobbyist games. Winning one of the Spiel des Jahres awards means the public removal of a number of barriers that may have previously stood between a game and genuinely mainstream success and recognition.

Figure 1 –The whimsical and charming Dixit – one of the best games in my experience for introducing new players to the world of modern board-gaming. 
 
However, there is another meaning to the word ‘accessible’ that is often under-emphasised in our hobby. That is in terms of accessibility to gamers with disabilities. There is a huge, largely untapped market of gamers out there who find their enjoyment of games complicated by the lack of support for physical, visual, communicative or cognitive impairments. For these gamers, sometimes all the Spiel des Jahres award does is emphasise that their participation in board gaming culture can only ever be partial. There are few things as culturally isolating as being unable to join in on the fun everyone else seems to be having.
 
In some respects, this is only to be expected. To make complex economic management mechanisms accessible to players with cognitive impairments would need so much to change that it wouldn’t in any sense be the same game. Dexterity games will never be a good fit for those with physical impairments. Pattern matching games are rarely a good choice for people with visual impairments. That is undeniable. It’s also perhaps undesirable that this change – the inaccessibility in a game is where all the fun comes from and we need to be careful about agitating for ‘less fun’ in games. The golden age that we are currently experiencing with regards to board gaming is one that is fuelled by a glorious variety of themes and mechanisms. That can only work if game designers are free to explore innovative and adventurous designs and to find the fun within.

Figure 2 – Five Tribes has a number of problems with regards to colour blindness, but there are elements of its fundamental design cannot realistically be made more accessible without it being a very different game. Some problems can be fixed, some cannot.
 
It is not the case that every game can be made accessible to every gamer. However, it is usually the case that every game can be made more accessible than it currently is. The spectrum of interaction within which individual players may be functioning is extremely wide. The distance between someone being able to play, and being completely unable to play might only be as wide as a few centimetres of die cutting, or a few shades on the artist’s palette. Greater accessibility is not only within relatively easy grasp of all developers, it’s something that can only increase the potential audience for these remarkable games. Awards like those offered by the Spiel judges will give a publisher a generous slice of the market pie, but accessibility means that the pie will be bigger for everyone. I would very much like to see the Spiel des Jahres incorporating elements of accessibility in its judging processes as a result. There are a few areas of maximum leverage in board gaming – this is one of them. 

Figure 3 – Here we see some custom meeple designs as viewed by those with full chromatic vision (top left), Protanopia (red-green colour blindness), Deuteranopia (a different kind of red-green colour blindness) and Tritanopia (blue-yellow colour blindness). Other than the colour, there is no way to tell them apart. 
 
For a little context, I’m a computing lecturer in Aberdeen, Scotland. I’m not associated with the Spiel des Jahres in any capacity other than as an interested observer. As part of my academic work in the area of accessibility for games, I run a blog called Meeple Like Us. We do the same kind of reviews that are produced by many people who are enthusiasts in the area. Our unique element is for every review we also publish a comprehensive accessibility analysis of the game we just discussed. We assess games in terms of the impairments we have mentioned above, but also in terms of likely emotional impact and socioeconomic factors of representation. Our job is to help gamers with special access requirements to find the games that work for them, and highlight the problems that mean certain titles won’t be suitable. I have had a lot of feedback showing that there really is an appetite out there for accessibility issues to be considered in mainstream tabletop gaming. The Spiel des Jahres awards have certain restrictions that go along with them, such as ‘must have been published as a German language edition’. That’s an accessibility requirement. There’s room in this reward for much more to be encouraged. 
 
I won’t single out any particular games here for commentary because that would be neither helpful nor fair. If there is one thing I have learned during this process it’s that even games that look and play in a similar fashion often diverge completely in their accessibility profiles. I’m often as surprised as anyone by what an accessibility teardown ends up revealing. As such, there are no ‘representative’ games that can stand in for the whole. The images selected for this post have been chosen largely at random from the games we have previously covered on the website.

Figure 4 – For those with physical impairments, attempting to position trains in tight quarters can be difficult. Ease of verbalisation really helps with situations like this.
 
The results of the project so far have shown that overall the story regarding the accessibility of board games is far from positive. However, and this is more important, it’s also shown that there are a lot of easy fixes that can really make a difference. For a few simple examples: 
Try to avoid paper money – it is rarely accessible to those with physical or visual impairments. The usual compensatory strategies people have for real life paper money (such as the folding method) don’t function correctly in the rapid churn of a game economy. 
When using cardboard tokens, give different units tactile distinctiveness. Don’t just change the size, change the shape. Go from circle, to hexagon, to square, to crescent. That makes it possible to tell the difference by touch alone. Currency of indistinguishable denominations is not visually accessible. Look at the coins in your pocket as a model for how tokens should be handled. If tokens have to be hidden, provide a screen, or a bag, or just tell people to keep them hidden in a cup. 
Consider colour blindness – not just in terms of colour palette, which is only a partial solution. Make sure colour isn’t the only way you’re providing key information to players. Supplement it with iconography, or textures. Be aware there is a wide spectrum of colour blindness – it’s not just about picking the right colours, although that certainly helps. 
Consider how easy it is to describe an action a player might undertake. Even gamers that are completely unable to interact with a game can still fully enjoy it. We refer to ‘verbalisation’ in our teardowns to describe this. You can play a meaningful game of chess without ever touching a piece, simply by making use of the unambiguous grid referencing system of the board. 
Consider whether your rules can be made more modular, so that additional complexity can be slotted in to place as time goes by. This allows not only an easier learning experience for everyone, but for groups to find the sweet-spot where the cognitive abilities of players are neatly accommodated. 
If you can avoid using custom dice, consider alternate options. Visually impaired players will often have specialised braille or oversized dice they use and these often cannot easily be incorporated without the use of a lookup table or some other awkward compensation. 
None of these are hugely costly, although an adventurous publisher might also consider things like QR codes linking to audio narration for long passages of text; embossed boards that lend themselves to tactile exploration; or any number of other compensations. Some manufacturers have seen ‘accessible components’ as a business opportunity all of their own. I would like to see the floor raised here without incurring additional expense to those that are currently excluded from full participation in the hobby. There is a lot we can do to make games more accessible as they emerge out of the box. 

Figure 5 – This is an oversized, accessible six sided dice.  It’s sitting atop one of the casino tiles from Lords of Vegas. Even if you had enough of these dice in your house, you couldn’t use them to stand in for the ones in the box because of how they’re used. 

The important thing here is that it’s not necessary to solve every problem for every game – but every problem you do solve will open the game up to an audience that was previously unavailable. Board gaming is not currently considered a mainstream hobby for those with disabilities, but that can change. It changes in part by showing disabled gamers that this is a hobby they too can meaningfully enjoy, and making the design and production changes that permit them to do so. The economic rewards that come from the SdJ could be a powerful incentive for this.
 
It’s important to note here too that there is also a social and cultural aspect to accessibility. The attitudes people have towards recreational products are very often shaped by the way in which those products are presented. Adopting wider diversity in art in terms of ethnicity, gender and disabilities is a powerful gesture. It sends a message to those that idly encounter the games – ‘we see you as part of this hobby’. That message in turn indicates that people should consider seeing themselves as part of the hobby. We include new audiences first by ensuring they can play, and then ensuring they feel welcome in these marvellous shared experiences. 
 
A short treatment of this subject cannot possibly hope to be exhaustive in the possibilities or the problems, but all I’m looking to do here is float a notion. We spend a lot of time talking about the SdJ and that alone shows how potentially powerful a catalyst for change it could be if accessibility was one of the judging criteria.  
 
Those wishing to learn more about the issue are invited to join me back on Meeple Like Us where we do weekly deep dives into particular games – including a number of previous SdJ winners and nominees. I am also contactable at dice@imaginary-realities.com for discussion, but I can’t guarantee especially rapid responses there. I’m available on twitter at @meeplelikeus, and I’m very happy to engage with designers and publishers.  
 
Thanks for your attention. We play games for many reasons, but one of the most powerful is to spend quality time with the people we love. The more accessible your games are, the greater the number of our loved ones that can be part of the experience.

The Black Dog

That bloody dog is at my heels again. I can feel its breath, sense rather than hear the heavy thud of its paws as it feeds on my shadow and grows bigger, stronger.
I try hard not to feed it, not to tempt it closer with those intrusive thoughts or the automatic negative thoughts which move in waves – waxing and waning like the tides.

I want to write a blog. I’d love to review a game or share something amazing with you but instead I am preoccupied with that bloody hound.

I started this blog last week but of course my visitor meant that I was robbed of the power or will to actually finish it, let alone publish it.

This is not one coherent blog post, rather, it is a collection of snippets glimpses of how it feels for me. It’s self indulgent, I think. I don’t know, I can’t tell at the moment. And, that’s part of the problem – this paralysing mind fog. What would my best friend say? It might help people – reassure them; it might help you to share it; it might help people who don’t have mental health issues understand a bit more.

But, on those days being my own best friend is an impossible task. My best friend on these days thinks the kindest thing is just to be brutally honest, to prepare me for the worst and prevent future embarrassment by discouraging human contact. Even the cat doesn’t care. She knows I’m a selfish bitch who deserves awful things. The way she speaks to me – even I know that no-one should have to put up with that.

I realise I sound insane but that’s because I am. A bit. Fortunately most days I’m blessed with sharp wits and humour and I can shut her up. I can’t get rid of her completely though. Mostly I am alright…mainly…

But I digress. I bore you.

Snippets…

I lay in bed this morning after I’d dropped the kids off and stared at the expanse of grey sky, broken up by wet rooftops and bare trees. I think about things I should do. I scold myself for saying should – it’s really unhelpful language. I shouldn’t use it. My list flitters round my head and in amongst the list flicker answers, advice, strategies I *should* be using. There’s that damned word again. But it is all too hard to grasp and while I try to capture a thought I realise it’s too late and the black dog is on me. I sleep and when I wake, I feel fleetingly better until I realise how much time I’ve wasted.

***

Today the insanity was palpable; a grey blanket which scratched at my skin, covered my head, made breathing stilted, shallow. I retreated into the darkness and smallness of it. Trying to catch myself, I lifted it and looked out at the sky. The measurelessness of it winded me; left me gasping for breath; floundering, drowning in open blue space.

My body drifted through time and space confined by the madness which remained all day as a stone, lodged in my throat threatening to choke me at any moment.

***

I do sink. From the heady heights of manic anxiety straight down to the paralysis of depression. Pausing only briefly to fasten my seatbelt in the car outside wraparound club and to feel happy. Momentarily I am happy and grateful for happy children and feeling love. By the time I reach work – a scant, blank 3 minute drive – I have plummeted into depression.

***

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