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Eeeek It’s nearly time for Airecon.

March 3, 2019

by admin Uncategorized

Last year was my first Airecon. Airecon is an analog gaming convention which takes place in Harrogate next weekend (8,9 &10 March). We had a fab time playing loads of games from the library and we also learnt how to play Quirk!, Azul, Sagrada and had a game of giant Tsuro. I also treated myself to some new games. I’m looking forward to more of the same this year…

1. The Pre Airecon Warm Up!
I’m really excited to be working with Bez at Airecon this year – I’ll be demoing and teaching Wibbell++. We’re starting early though with a pre Airecon warm up night at The Abbey Inn, Bramley – which will include some Wibbell++ tournaments and maybe even some Yogi. It’s particularly special to me as it marks two years since my launch event at The Abbey so it would be great to see lots of you there. I’ve come a long way in two years. I have moved the business from a potentially crazy idea to an actual business. I know I keep banging on about it but I’m delighted to have been nominated for Best Independent Business in the Yorkshire Choice awards, I’ve been in the Yorkshire Evening Post and I’m going to be on BBC Radio Leeds on the 18th from 2 till 3pm with Liz Greene. When I held the launch party I genuinely had no idea whether the business would work or not I was just going to give it a shot. And two years on Cards or Die is moving from strength to strength. So join us and celebrate. We’ll have some prizes and you can get your gaming brains ready for Airecon! 

2. New Games 
When I say new games I mean of course that I will be scouring every inch of the bring and buy as well as maybe treating myself to a ‘new new’ game. Last year I came away with Spy Ring which is an absolute classic, Orcs Orcs Orcs and Resistance which are great games too. Handily Mother’s Day falls at the end of March so my super organised children also bought me games – my favourite of which was Honshu. So kids – this is your annual reminder: Mother’s Day is coming – buy some games. On a completely unrelated note I still don’t have a copy of this….. just saying…

3. Team Trevor
Some time ago I got myself added to a list on the internet. Don’t worry – it’s a good list. Janice off of Wren Games created a list of people who engaged in conversations and gave feedback on games related chat and then suggested we should name the list. @BSoMT suggested Trevor and a monster was born -the kind of monster that you have a lot of affection for. 
@EarthtoGames described us as ‘a group of like minded twitterers within the board game community with hearts of pure gold and helpful minds to match’. The group constantly expands – anyone can join the group and the chat just use #teamtrevor and add to the nonsense/ high quality gaming ideas.  
Many of Team Trevor will be at Airecon and I can not wait to meet them in real life. I have been active on Twitter for two years and many of these people regularly support me and the business so I am very excited about meeting them. I am also slightly nervous that they will realise I’m an idiot but I feel like if you’ve followed me on twitter for two years and haven’t figured that out then that’s your own problem.
 
4. Open Gaming
The greatest thing about Airecon for me is the amount of open gaming space. As I have said many times before board gaming for me is all about getting together with people – connecting with people. I hope to be spending some time with my family playing new games and having fun together and I know that while I’m working that’s what they’ll be doing (as well as the obligatory bickering about rules). Travelling Man is providing the games library this year so there’s going to be an epic selection of games again. 
 
Airecon is going to be awesome. I can not wait!

A week in war time games.

February 24, 2019

by admin Uncategorized

Board gaming for me is all about bringing people together and I’ve done that every day this week at The Royal Armouries in Leeds. There’s still Sunday left to come and see us. A whopping 1095 people have visited Cards or Die and stayed for a game or two (or more), I’ve told stories about the games, taught people how to play and more importantly listened to stories about and inspired by the games. I love listening to people’s tales and games are often the perfect jumping off point for a great story. People handle the boxes and the memories come – trickling at first, then flooding the senses giving brief glimpses of the past. I have enjoyed snippets of conversation overheard – ‘I’ve got a copy of that in my parents’ attic”We had that exact one”My Grandad made us one of those’.
 
Tiddly Winks
Picking up a box of tiddly winks a lady in a wheelchair laughed and told me that years ago she was being patronised by a group of – as she referred to them – hooray Henrys – who were expressing their sorrow that she would never be able to take part in any sport. She informed them that nothing could be further from the truth. In fact she and her friend were the UK underwater tiddlywinks champions. She explained to them, at length, the excitement and danger of this niche sport – ‘if you get a tiddly wink in your snorkel it can be fatal’; how vital it is that you always ‘tiddle before you wink’ – her friend went to the loo at this point unable to conceal her laughter any longer. The Henrys were gripped by these tales of high energy, dare devil tiddlywinking. I like to think that at some point in the thirty years that followed it has dawned on them. 
 
Battleship
This MB classic has been one of the most played games of the week – at times all four copies were in use. A child announced – “we’ve played this on your phone – but here it is ‘in real life’!” As a child who was not allowed to own battleship because ‘it’s a waste of money – you just need a piece of paper and a pencil’ I can fully understand the excitement of the real thing! 
 
On Tuesday as they left, a group of people who had played Battleship were promising their children that they would get some games out when they got home. It’s lovely to be able to share something of our childhood with our own children.
 
One group came in and asked about playing Risk. I said they would need a couple of hours or could play for a while and just see who was in the lead. ‘Oh no,’ they said ‘we’re not staying that long.’ Then they sat and played battleship for two hours! I love that about games – you can get thoroughly lost in a game and have no idea how long you have been playing. Often we rush about and feel like there is never enough time for anything so it is a luxury to be able to lose ourselves in an activity, to be consumed by it and escape reality for a while.

Shut The Box
Another favourite from this week. People of all ages have played – from tiny ones adding up on their fingers and studiously counting each dot on the dice as they didn’t yet recognise the patterns to Grandmas and Grandads playing on their own while they waited for the children and grandchildren to finish on the crossbow range next door.
 
This ridiculous game is as luck based as it is addictive – you are trapped endlessly rolling the dice in an attempt to get the exact number needed to ‘shut the box’. I taught it to some people who had never played it before – while demonstrating it once I shut the box. As newcomers to the game they did not understand my elation and said how easy it seemed. ‘Ha!’ I said – ‘take it, play it… you will see’. I popped over to see how they were getting on. The youngest child (while continually rolling dice) ‘It’s a stupid game really, I mean I’m just rolling dice and putting numbers down. You don’t need any skill. You just need to roll dice and add up. It’s just luck’ 
Me: ‘You can’t stop, can you?’
Him: ‘No!’
This- this is the intrinsic genius of Shut The Box. 
 
Hearts Vs Minecraft
Hearts is the oldest game in my collection. From 1914, billed as an ‘exciting letter game’ from Parker Brothers, its delicate paper dice shaker contains 6 red dice with gold letters on. You have three turns to try to roll the word HEARTS. Simple but lovely and very much of its time. 
It also contains advice on how to learn games which I think is priceless and still relevant: 

A family played it for a while and really enjoyed it. I don’t think it was ‘exciting’ by today’s standards, but their five year old adored it and succeeded in spelling out hearts over and over again. On the way out they said they had all spent a while in the minecraft session and while the children had thoroughly enjoyed it, the adults had felt a bit out of their depth – a bit left out. They were delighted to spend this time all playing together, enjoying each others company. 
 
When I tell people what I do, they often make the assumption that it’s ‘for kids’ but it really isn’t. At least not exclusively. Board games are for everyone. They are for coming together across boundaries of age, experience, knowledge… and having fun. For grown ups it’s a much needed opportunity to play and forget about adulting for a while and for families it can be a lovely opportunity to get off your screens and just be together.

Sum It
Sum It finally made it out of its box and on to the table. A very simple game in theory, I have been unable to get my head round playing it as I have no grasp of adding up in old money. One visitor remembered being whacked whenever he got his sums wrong but he still remembers how to add up in pre-decimalisation currency and could convert it too. I’m not great at Maths and I’m pretty sure hitting me every time I got it wrong wouldn’t have helped me – although it probably would have got me out of the education system and into work a lot sooner! 
 
 
Mancala
Possibly the oldest game known to mankind. It is certainly an ancient game and came in very handy for helping with homework this week. Two children are going away with photos, stories and hastily googled details about mancala. It is another simple game in so far as there are few rules to grapple with and yet there is plenty of strategy to consider. Being an ancient game there are always variations on the rules to stumble upon. A couple told me that they had seen it on a holiday in Egypt carved into a wall top in an ancient temple. Google helpfully suggests that it was perhaps Karnak, Luxor or Kurna. 
 
Nine Men’s Morris
Another game that is simple to learn with a decent amount of strategy and also popular in Roman times. One visitor explained that he had seen it carved into sandstone in South Africa. Unlike more sophisticated strategy games evenly matched players or those with enough experience of the game can eventually force a draw. People also speculated on the name – one person asking if it was to do with Morris dancing – something that crossed my mind before I played it. This has since prompted me to look it up and it seems that in Morris Dancing and Nine Men’s Morris the word morris has different origins. The popular theory is that Morris Dancing comes from either ‘Morey’s daunce’ or Morisco (often associated with Moorish traditions from the mid 15th Century). The Morris in nine men’s Morris derives from the latin word merellus meaning game piece.

Over the week a whole range of games have been played by all different people. I expected that a lot of people would enjoy looking at Risk and Escape from Colditz, I didn’t think they’d get played but even they made it on to the table. While playing this I heard the story of a polish man, a friend of someone’s Grandma who had escaped Warsaw by strangling a guard and swimming the river.
 
A lady who picked up Ludo and asked if I remembered Frustration. Yes, I said and handed her the copy – just as she was telling me that the one she had as a child was a popomatic one. She grinned at me, took it and played it with her son. He loved popping it and she loved being able to play a game from her childhood with her son.
 
I’ve delighted in the post-its that went home with games written on – Abalone, Shut The Box, Mancala, The Grizzled – to look up and buy. As well as the promise of games once relegated to cupboards, caravans and attics which will now be freed.
 
The modern games have been a joy too. Being in a room full of laughter and animal noises is bizarre but lovely. Charades was originally a French game which actually involved solving riddles. Later, as a Victorian Parlour game it took on the form we recognise now where people act things out while others guess what they are doing. It has always been a popular game and remains so now. I brought along modern variations on the theme and so people have played Charades, Animal Ailments, all three versions of Quirk!, Obama Llama (1 and 2), Soundiculous and Randomise. These are games that bring joy to people and it has been fantastic to watch and hear them played. 
 
My favourites, of course, are the slightly grumpy teens. I taught them for seventeen years and now I live with some – you’ve got to love them. A father and a young child settled down to a game of Mancala while the teenagers sat staring into the distance looking disgruntled. I had run through some of the games with them when they arrived but they were unimpressed. 10 minutes into Mancala, I noticed they had started watching the game. I took the second copy over and sure enough moments later they were engrossed in a game too. Often to win the war what is needed is a series of small victories.
 
So this blog or random collection of tales comes to a close. I’ve had a fabulous week and I hope to see lots of you at events soon. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out.

War Time Gaming.

February 17, 2019

by admin Uncategorized

Every day over half term (16-24th February) Cards or Die will be joining the Royal Armouries Leeds in their War Games exhibition. I’m choosing a selection of war themed games and war time games from our collection for you to play or just have a look at. There will be loads of activities on throughout the week – you can see weaponry commonly found in video games, take part in historical and sci-fi scale model gaming, take part in a cyber mission and see war gaming demos. 
Here are some of the games Cards or Die will be bringing along:

Playing Cards
Playing cards have been around for centuries and were certainly in both sets of trenches, on all sides of the wars, in homes and in kit bags. By carrying a deck of cards you are carrying an endless selection of games: games of skill, strategy, bluff, luck, push your luck – all the key game mechanics are here. Many of those classic games are still played today – Rummy, Whist, Pontoon, Old Maid, Bridge, Cribbage … the list is endless. Even simple childhood games like snap and Happy Families or Go Fish provide the basis for some great modern card games. Dobble, Twin It, Anomia, Who Did It? all use Snap as their basic premise. 
 
As well as providing a pastime in the trenches, cards provided opportunities for propoganda – the Germans produced decks which depicted German heroes or caricatures of the enemy. Decks of cards were also used to educate – some decks were used to teach basic French vocabulary, while others showed the colours of the allies to help with recognition. Of course just as we do now, people would come together over the games – sharing their experiences and memories, teaching their favourites from home. At a time of shortages cards were the perfect game – cheap to produce and most households would have a couple of old packs of cards they could hand down to bored children.
 
Word Games
Word Games like Lexicon from 1932 and Kan-U-Go also from the 1930s remained popular for years. I remember Kan-U-Go from our caravan holidays as a child (and I’m not *that* old). Later this penchant for word games led to the development of scrabble. 

Family board games. 
Snakes and Ladders actually dates back to the late 1800s and has always been loved by children. I don’t still have my childhood copy but I do have the wooden shaker that came with it; I still like the sound and feel of it. A simple game that doesn’t take too long and I remember really loving the pictures on mine. Now I have a lovely cloth bag version from M&S. Side note I did a Women’s Institute booking and one of the ladies said it was her favourite game – I expressed surprise and she explained that every time you go down a snake you drink a gin! We won’t be playing this version at The Royal Armouries but I thought I’d share the suggestion! 

Sorry 1929 – like so many traditional family games this is sure to end in tears. It is very similar in principle to Frustration, Headache, Ludo and its German sibling ‘Mensch ärgere dich nicht’ which literally translates as ‘don’t get angry, mate’. You move around the board landing on people and sending them back to their original base to start again. 
Cluedo and Monopoly from the 1940s have remained international family favourites and have been treated to many specialised editions. I’ve even seen a Big Bang Theory Cluedo. Many people start with these classics and then move on to bigger and (many would argue better) board games. Monopoly had a very special role in the second world war as Waddingtons manufactured editions with maps, real money and fake documents to be sent to prisoners of war. While I will still happily play Cluedo, I’m not so keen on Monopoly. You can read my further thoughts on that here. 

Uckers
A friend whose brother was in the Navy told me about this one. The rules can vary depending on who you ask -so before you settle down to a game it’s always best to check which house rules you’ll be adopting. Based on Ludo it can be played on a Ludo board but an Uckers board is actually a mirror image. Often Ludo boards were used or hand made boards. 
 
Just as in Ludo you must get all four pieces home before your opponents, if you land on an opponent they are ‘ucked off’ back to the starting point. Once you reach home referred to as ‘the tube’ or ‘pipe’ your pieces are usually safe (although some versions have rules allowing ‘suckback’ or ‘blowback’). Rules vary on whether you need to roll the exact number required to get home. 
 
If your dice goes off the board three times (a ‘bum’ roll) it is declared “off the IPS” (International Playing Surface), you incur a punishment such as losing a turn. Rolls that knock other people’s counters out of place are also considered ‘bum’ or ‘cocky’ rolls and incur penalties.
 
To start moving round the board you must roll a 6 and place a piece on to the ‘doorstep’ (the first space). A roll of snake eyes triggers ‘out all bits’ which means all of your pieces, and in some versions your opponents too, come out on to your doorstep. Each dice may be used to move a different piece or you use the sum of the dice to move one piece.
 
Landing on your own piece creates a blob (like a barrier in Frustration or Headache) which prevents opponents from passing but your own pieces can move past. Blobs can be destroyed by landing on them with another blob or ‘sixed’ by rolling a 6 plus the number of pieces making up the blob. Destroyed blobs are sent back to the start. In a two player game, where players have two colours you may end up with a ‘mixi blob’ of two of your own colours – this works as a barrier but can be sent back by landing on it with a single piece. Blobs may be moved around the board but you need to roll doubles. 
 
People who argue over the rules are encouraged to check the underside of the board where the rules are said to be recorded. In fact all they will find are the names of previous sore losers who have ‘upboarded’ either deliberately or in a fit of pique thereby forfeiting the game. 
 
These are just the basic rules but there are advanced adaptations too. I don’t have an actual Uckers board but I’ll have the Ludo board so feel free to have a go at Uckers on it! 
 
We’ll also bring a selection of War Themed Games from Battleships to Homelands. 
What will you play first?

References

Card Games in the First World War

Uckers

Basic Rules of Uckers

Read more here – World War 1 Remembered

Play these and other awesome games at a Cards or Die event.

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This Valentine’s find your perfect game set and match.

February 10, 2019

by admin Uncategorized

The world of online dating is fraught with cliches. Fortunately for you, I have found a practical use for them. Simply choose the cliche which best summarises you and I’ve matched you with your soul mate. Sad news, it turns out your soul mate is a board game. Read on to find your perfect match. All you need now is someone to play with….
 
1. I like going out and staying in.
Which makes me a match with everyone on here – I can’t believe I’m still single (that’s how my dating profile opened!). You are all things to all people, easy going and laid back, I’m starting with you first because you’re the most difficult to accommodate. You will love Sushi Go. 
Sushi Go is a lovely portable game so you can pop it in your bag and take it to the pub – or play it at home! It’s a quick, fun game. Collect a high scoring combination of sushi by choosing cards carefully before you pass them on. Strike a balance between blocking your opponents, collecting cards that score now and puddings that will score at the end of the game. 

2. Cosy nights snuggling up in front of a roaring fire are my favourites.

You’re all about hugs and holding hands – you need a tactile game. Azul fits the bill. In Azul you are creating a beautiful mosaic with these gorgeous tiles. You score for placing tiles in the correct place and bonuses for sets of colour, columns and rows. The mechanic is straight forward but you need to plan carefully to ensure you maximise your points. You also need to keep an eye on what others are doing to make sure your plan can’t be scuppered! Each round you get to dig deep in the drawstring bag and replenish the tile stock – a very satisfying task!
 
3. GSOH – I don’t care about looks, I just want someone who I can have a laugh with.

Twin It: visually noisy, this is loads of fast paced fun. A variation on snap – you need to keep your wits about you as you have to be the first to spot a pair of matching patterns from 8 different piles (in a 4 player game). For added challenge, play on my chintzy tablecloth! 
 
4. Honestly, though, you do care about looks.
Be honest now, if you had to choose between looks and personality – you choose looks every time. High Society is your game. Beautiful images adorn these cards which each represent elements of high society living that you can bid for. Attaining Joie de Vivre will double your points but watch out some cards half the value of your stash or make you discard a card. When these appear you bid NOT to end up with the card. The other nice twist in this game is that the person with the least money at the end of the game is disqualified. So make sure you don’t run out of money or it won’t matter how pretty your cards are – you’ve still lost. I think there’s another cynical dating reference in here somewhere….

5. Looking for fun – no strings attached. 
No deck builders or legacies for you!
Yogi is a physical card game – it has been likened to Twister but with cards. I can see why, but it’s much more inventive than Twister. You must follow the instructions on the cards as you turn them over, each turn it becomes harder and harder as you add more cards to the mix. You might be battling to keep your lower teeth hidden, hold a card on your eyebrow, hold another card between your fingers and keep both arms touching!! Then you still need to be able to pick up another card and follow the instruction. Whenever we play it ends in chaos and laughter. Also if you get the right combination it can transform you into a rock star!

6. I’m new to this. My friends said I should try it… I’m not sure what to put but here goes…
Everyone loves Carcassonne, it is one of my most played games. My copy has been played at all sorts of bookings cafes, pubs, weddings… And with good reason -it’s a lovely game, great if you want to try something a bit more complex than Monopoly or Cluedo. Because of the different possibilities when placing your meeples and claiming land or roads you can just layer up the complexity as you go along. I’ve only recently mastered farmers and for some reason I still sometimes struggle to explain it clearly. So if you’re new to it I would advise you to come back to farmer later…
 
In its simplest terms, all you do on your turn is place the next tile from the pile adding to the map image – continuing roads, fields or cities. Each turn you can place one meeple, thereby claiming that stretch of road, city or fields surrounding an Abbey. You try to get the biggest cities or longest roads to get high scores. It’s a very satisfying game as you watch your lands grow, your score increase and your cities sprawl out. The more you play the more strategic you become. 

7. Looking for my partner in crime.
If you have written this it is more than likely you are romanticising criminals – picturing stylish gangsters and their molls, spies and espionage, car chases and adventure. Get Adler will allow you to either take on the hidden role of Adler or play detective and is from just the right era to match the film playing in your head! 
Agent Adler has done a runner with Top-Secret documents. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to track down and eliminate Adler and retrieve the stolen dossier. You have seven hours… The game is played in two halves – in the first part you must identify Adler and in the second you must apprehend them using the cards you have collected. Have you got enough pistol cards to outshoot Adler or will you be shot down? 

8. I enjoy long walks… to the pub.
What you need is a game that you can slip in your bag and it won’t weigh you down on your long hikes. Travel Hive is a lightweight but lovely game which comes in a drawstring bag so it will fit easily into any backpack. Win by ensuring that your opponent’s Queen Bee is surrounded by tiles. Each insect in the hive has a different movement ability, making it highly strategic. It is reminiscent of chess but a much quicker game. 

9. I’m laid back and easy going. 
You’re not are you? In fact, you are super competitive. Your perfect game allows you to grind your opponents into the dust where they belong while you tactlessly celebrate. You need an old school classic – the insincerely named, Sorry! The kind of game siblings have played for decades, the kind of game that usually ends in tears!

 
10. I love travelling.
Ticket to Ride allows you to wistfully recall your travels round Europe and rant about the inadequacies of British transport whilst enjoying a tactical game of route planning and claiming. Best of all it comes with little trains!! 

11. Don’t message me if you can’t differentiate between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’.
You’re lack of patience (d’ye see what I did their?!!- ooh and there. Are you twitching? What about know?) and love of language lends itself to Speedy Words. Be the first to shout out a word which matches the symbol and the letter shown. In the picture that would be a food beginning with P. If you win, you take the card and the person with the most cards at the end is the overall winner -the supreme word master, vocabulary overlord. You can come up with your own grammatically accurate title – you love doing that.

12. I don’t need any more drama in my life.

Oooh you big fibber, you thrive on it – otherwise you wouldn’t have mentioned it. Bucket of Doom for you! There are just three easy steps – choose 1 from 8 random items you could use to escape the terrifying scenario; convince the group that your plan is the best; vote for a winner each round. You definitely need a very fertile imagination for this one – you don’t have to be dramatic but it helps.

13. I’m normal.
Only people who are not normal claim to be normal. You’re not only lying, you are missing out on an opportunity to embrace your lack of normality. I can help you with that. In Quirk! you need to collect the most sets of three cards. Sounds normal so far. The twist is that in order to collect the sets you need to become the creature you’re collecting. In Quirk! Legends for instance to complete your set of Unicorns cards you must impersonate a Unicorn. You can also play tactic cards which allow you to block, distract others and tell people to Quirk Off which is immensely satisfying. It’s hilarious and noisy and anything but normal. Just like you. 

14. I love my family. 
The fact that you feel the need to announce this fills me with suspicion that your beloved family are under the patio. You can reminisce about their gruesome ends with a good game of Gloom. In Gloom your aim is to make your family as miserable as possible before killing them off, you can also try to lift the spirits of other people’s families (see – you’re not all bad.) The cards are see-through so that you can stack them up, obscuring or replacing some or all of the existing scores and categories. Event cards intensify the gloom of your family and outline a mishap or terrible event: ‘disappeared in the night’ or ‘was part of a feast’ for example. As these stack up you tell the horrifying story of that character. Storytelling is outlined in the rules as ‘half the fun’: you are encouraged to flesh out (if you will) how these chilling events came to pass – perhaps you could draw on past experience.

15. I give up. I’m deleting my profile.
I feel you. You don’t need anyone; you are a rock; you are an island and what you need is Tiny Epic Galaxies: a solid solo game. Take over galaxies, farm resources, beat the rogue galaxy – all in a small (ish) box. Perfect for while you are waiting for late friends (or dates).

 
Happy Valentine’s Y’all.
I hope you all get to play a game you love and that loves you. 

Risk. Why is it so loved?

February 3, 2019

by admin Uncategorized

I finally got round to playing Risk for the first time last weekend. When I tell people what I do for a living, there’s a list of games that always come up and Risk is one of them. People have fond memories of playing Risk for hours and I think perversely that has always put me off.
 
Often the games that trigger fond reminiscences just don’t stand up to scrutiny. 
‘Have you got Sorry?’
‘Yes’, I say, handing them a vintage copy.
‘Wow, I remember this. This is the exact one we had.’ they reply, handling the box in awe. Then they carefully put it back and play something else.
 
‘Have you got Mousetrap?’
‘Nope’
‘I loved that when I was a kid. You should get it.’
‘Did you? Or, did you love the idea of it but in reality it took loads of turns to build only to discover you’d forgotten to put the spring in the helping hand. Or the diver veered slightly to the left of the bath tub?’
And then they remember. Blind nostalgia falls away and they remember how bloody irritating it was.
 
When they ask for Risk I say I have it. In fact I have two copies – a retro version and a modern ‘speed play’ version. Yet few people actually play it, because – they say – because of the time it takes. This has just made me sceptical. Is it the serious gamer’s Mousetrap? Will I be Sorry? 
 
The length of time a game takes has also become a factor. If I’m donating hours of my time, it had better be good. My favourite games are usually shorter. I’d rather play 2 or 3 games than devote an entire evening or day to one game. There are exceptions of course – The Harry Potter Battle Game, Arkham Horror, Forbidden Desert…Not that Forbidden Desert is itself a long game – it’s just that if you won’t stop until you’ve won, you need to set aside a decent amount of time. Pausing between games only to say ‘right’ in a suitably determined tone of voice. 
 
So if you’ve never played Risk or you haven’t played for years and years, there are two questions we need to consider:
Is it really that great?
Why is it so loved?
 
These are my musings after my first game, a discussion with an enthusiast and some ideas from a twitter conversation.
 
What’s it all about?
To win the game you must either take over the world. (Bonus points to me for not inserting the Pinky and the Brain gif – again). Or, you can fulfil a special mission for instance kill all the yellow troops, occupy 24 territories or conquer certain continents. The mission cards are optional – they limit the game, making it shorter and more achievable. 
Plays 2-6
Age 10+
Time – the rest of your life. Not really – we played for three hours but now that I get it I imagine it would stretch out more. Strategising rather than invading other countries with no plan always takes longer and is a surer way to win!
Official Hasbro timing 1- 8 hours

What you said.
A few people agreed it relied too much on luck while others felt that there was balance between strategy and luck. Broadly, people agreed that they enjoyed it when they were younger or first introduced to more complex games. It can teach strategic game play, the importance of the placement of resources or people and many other games were certainly influenced by it which positions it as a good introductory game for war games or games in general.
Its status as a classic seems unanimously agreed – but then does that mean you should play it or like many ‘classics’ just that it retains a special place in your affections and memories never to emerge from its box again? 
 
The balance of strategy and luck.

The strategy begins right from the off – the placement of your troops should be informed by a longer term plan. Grouping your weeny soldiers together strengthens their claim to a territory. Straightaway you are balancing up the taking of smaller (low value) continents which are potentially easier to take and maintain with higher risk targets that are worth more. Countries with more borders are worth more but are also easier to attack and harder to retain control of. 
 
While I enjoy strategy games, I often prefer a game which has an element of luck to it. I feel like it removes too much predictability – which is important to me (especially when the predictable factor is me getting beaten again!!). I am a big fan of push your luck games, I enjoy the risk and the thrill. It is wholly appropriate that Risk has some push your luck elements. ‘Sod it, I might be totally outnumbered but I reckon I can roll higher dice than you. Yes I’m sure I’ll attack’.
 
The dice throws add a welcome luck based element to Risk – they decide the winners and losers of battles over territory. The dice are stacked in the defenders favour. So even here there are decisions to make – the number of troops you attack with governs how many dice you can roll and you must weigh that against the fact the odds are not in your favour. You can redress this imbalance by building up troops here but that relies on the person you intend to attack being busy elsewhere and not attacking you!
 
As the game progresses you are rewarded for your victories with increased reinforcements. Everyone gets reinforcements but this increases with the number of territories you control. This means that for novice players it can be frustrating as you watch others consolidate their powers while you just slip further and further back. It doesn’t mean that the game is over by any means it just makes it harder once you get behind. I felt I was almost waiting for someone to miss something or make a mistake. As I said I’m not a massive fan of super long games and I could see myself becoming disheartened with this set up. A more determined person, perhaps more of a long term strategist would, I’m sure rise to the challenge here and enjoy it. 
 
I can also see that with more players and more experience of the game there is also room to make alliances and pacts to prevent one player becoming too powerful. But these alliances are temporary and will end in betrayal which gives the game an edge that many (but not me) would enjoy.
 
What have we learnt?

We have learnt that you can’t just invade countries with no strategy – you will lose. You also can’t invade a country and then just abandon your territory – you must leave at least one ‘troop’ behind to defend the country. The better you do, the better you will do – your gains accumulate.  
 
While I may not play Risk again for a while, I’m glad I’ve played it. If you enjoyed it years ago or if you’ve never played it I would definitely recommend having a game. It’s enjoyable, it gets your brain working and above all it teaches you vital skills for if you ever fancy taking over the world. 
 
Cards or Die will be at The Royal Armouries with War Games and war time games including Risk from February 16th until February 24th. 

Come along to a Cards or Die event.

Board Games are for life not just for Christmas.

January 20, 2019

by admin Uncategorized

My 11 year old announced this morning that one of the great things about not going to a childminder any more is that we eat together as a family now. Don’t get me wrong, some nights we have TV dinners on trays and most nights someone moans: ‘we always eat at the table, why can’t we have a change?’ or, ‘we never eat at the table, why have we got to tonight?’ Sometimes, infuriatingly, both these complaints are made at once. Never let the truth get in the way of a good moan. 
 
The point is – kids moan. Or at least mine do. Getting them to come off screens and interact with others is a challenge that I don’t always have the energy for. Especially given that one of mine has Autism – for him, hell truly is other people. Instead I often reserve my energy for getting them to school, making them eat something other than toast and making sure I get the last word in arguments. I’m very mature like that.
 
But when I do invest some of my precious energy ‘making’ them play board games as a family, we have a blast. During school holidays, particularly Christmas, when we are trapped in the house or trapped in someone else’s house visiting (if hell is other people surely visiting them in their own home is in one of the seven circles). 
 
For so many of us board games are inextricably linked to Christmas. It’s easy to see why: – 
 
They make great presents.

When you buy someone a game (whether child or adult) you are also giving them your time. This is more obvious when we buy for children – they unwrap the new game and a variety of adults get down on the floor and are immediately immersed – setting up, reading instructions, dealing cards, choosing a colour…And why should it be different for adults. We deserve fun and silliness or time spent strategising. When we give someone a game there is an unspoken gift of the time we spent choosing it specially for them and the time we will spend playing it together. In our busy lives, the gift of time is the most generous and vital one we can give. 
 
We’re all bored.

Apart from some isolated incidents of great TV over the Christmas period, Christmas is often a time when we tire of the TV. Even our favourite childminder deserves at least one day off a year. We are all looking for a distraction, a fun activity to do together indoors – it’s too cold to spend long outdoors. For generations Board Games have been the answer and now there is such a range of games available that there really is something for everyone. You are not limited to parlour games. There’s kittens to explode, cities to build, deserts to escape from, zombies to kill, train rides to take across Europe, stories to tell and pandemics to cure. Board games are the antidote to boredom and this has never been more true.
 
The Board Games Renaissance.
There has never been a more exciting time for board games. They are everywhere:- from your friendly local games store to Waterstones to the Works. There are always retro classics to be rediscovered in our attics or charity shops – not everything has to be new. There are games for every budget from print and play to collection games like Magic the Gathering. Every interest is covered – from pie stealing foxes to Star Wars to stupid deaths. When you are looking for a personal or quirky present a well chosen card or board game often has the answer (there’s even a game called Quirk! – what could be quirkier than that?!)
 
Tradition.

Christmas is a time of traditions and many households have Christmas board gaming traditions – whether it’s the purchase of a new game or an old favourite that comes out every year.  Tradition is a powerful thing, often followed unwaveringly and unquestioningly. Those who dare to suggest change are shot down in flames or mocked for a lack of understanding. I know. Trust me – I’m a Morris Dancer. (Sentences you never thought you’d type #203)
So many of us unfalteringly return to board games for that one celebration per year. Sadly, when the decorations are packed away for another year so too are the games -left to acquire dust and one more year’s separation from the original rule book. 
 
I’m not a fan of defending tradition for the sake of it. Some traditions need updating, amending or cutting into three, burying in far flung corners of the earth and eternally guarded. So what about board games?
 
If you enjoyed your Christmas games then why shelve them? If you enjoyed the idea of it, the family time spent together until someone went off in a huff because you bought Pall Mall then why not explore some different games?
 
There are so many benefits to board gaming. You can be exercising your brain- strategising, observing, planning; testing your reflexes, vocabulary or memory; laughing till your face hurts; preparing for a zombie apocalypse – life skills that should not be underestimated; you could be escaping, exploring imaginary worlds, fighting dragons, curing diseases; you can be spending time with old friends, playing with strangers, making new friends without worrying about conversation drying up or awkward moments. For me and Cards or Die this is what it’s all about – not winning or playing the latest big hit but bringing people together. That’s why I’m urging you to make a little space on your shelves so those Christmas games stay visible all year and make a little space for them in your day to day life. A little regular space where you can recapture that Christmas spirit, turn off the screens and be together.
 
You are always welcome to come along to a Cards or Die event too – come on your own or bring friends or family. Come and see us.

Charades, Noise and Social Ridiculousness

January 6, 2019

by admin Uncategorized

Just before Christmas I received this exciting package from Gamely Games. Three pocket sized boxes of fun – perfect party games to pop in my bag and take to the pub. If you are a Dragon’s Den fan you may have seen Deborah Meaden miming her way through a round of Randomise. In the end Gamely Games walked away from the den with no deal but not without offers. The games are quick to learn but offer hours of entertainment so get the gang round and settle down for a ridiculous games evening!!
 
Randomise
Players 4+
Time 30mins
Age 8+
Price £11.99 (available on Amazon or direct from Gamely Games)

Choose one card from each pile, pick a number and then act, draw or describe your way to victory. You can choose from hard or easy tasks. You might be a dramatic Polar bear making sushi or a macho snail doing the ironing. The random nature of the categories combined with your skilful acting is what makes the game so hilarious. It has been a hit with adults and children alike. Most people seem to automatically choose the charades option but the drawing option has proved a good travel game for my children. (Less distracting than charades or arguing while I’m driving!!).
 
Soundiculous
Players 3-10
Time 15mins
Age 8+
Price £11.99 (available on Amazon or direct from Gamely Games)

Surprisingly challenging, Soundiculous requires you to mimic a sound while others guess what sound you are making. What I hear when I make a tumble dryer sound is apparently nothing like an actual tumble dryer! A very simple premise that has had us howling with laughter. Even the noises which we accurately guessed were entertaining. Although personally I thought my beatboxing was me stumbling on a hidden talent, I’m pretty sure that they were still laughing about the tumble dryer. Children can be very unforgiving. 
 
The Pretender
Players 4-6
Time 15mins
Age 12+
Price £11.99 (available on Amazon or direct from Gamely Games)

A game of social deception. 
Choose a category and each player is assigned an identical role – apart from – The Pretender (If you’re not singing by now you’re reading this wrong). Each player performs a mini charade relating to the item on the card. It is a balancing act – you must perform clearly enough so that people don’t think you are the pretender but vaguely enough that the pretender can’t work out the answer. The Pretender has the most difficult challenge though. They must act out a charade which fits with the others – this is of course easier if they are last to go. 
Players then discuss who they think the Pretender is. On the count of three, all point towards the accused! The wiley amongst us can always deflect guilt and steer the conversation towards an incorrect accusation. The Pretender can save themselves by guessing what the item on the card was. 
Often age guides are a bit conservative for my liking and I regularly play games which are ‘too old’ for my family but this one is bang on. For a ridiculous game there is a certain level of skill and cunning required – definitely one for the grown ups! 
 
I also love the look of these games.The designs are quirky and fun. I adore the colours in The Pretender. When they’re not packed in a bag to go to an event, they look great on my shelf!

As always you can try these games out at one of our upcoming events – and if you can’t make those, you can always book a private party!

My Year in Games.

December 29, 2018

by admin Uncategorized

2018 has been a great year for Cards or Die. We’ve brought lots of people together with board games and played thousands of games! Here are our highlights…
 
January

I love visiting board game cafes and our family started the year by visiting Treehouse Board Games Cafe, Sheffield. It’s great to try games before you commit to buying and I love being taught the rules without having to wade through rule books. Exactly what Cards or Die offers at all of our events but nonetheless it’s good to be on the receiving end of great service and expertise. We played loads of new games including Colour Brain which we now have in stock – a brilliant quiz game with multi choice answers so you can always have a go. Answers that others don’t get earn you points, so unusual knowledge is rewarded.
 
February 

In February I was back in school but instead of teaching, I was getting learners to work together and compete positively. They had loads of fun playing Exploding Kittens and Dobble. Since then I’ve done some work at The Lighthouse School in Leeds, working with young people with autism. Games are such a fabulous way to get people to interact with each other especially if communication is challenging. The fact that games give your communication a clear focus and purpose actually makes other communication easier and more comfortable. One of the only things I miss about teaching is working with young people – passionate, slightly crazy young people. So going in and playing daft games while reinforcing learning about social skills and helping groups to bond has been loads of fun. 
 
March 

In March my family and I went to Airecon. Two days of gaming – we tried loads of new games. I got the opportunity to play Quirk! before my Kickstarter copy arrived. My daughter was hooked on Animal Ailments and we backed it that day – her first kickstarter project. (What have I started?!) My favourite game of the weekend was Azul – it’s so tactile and gently strategic. Unfortunately I had to wait till my birthday in October before we finally tracked down a copy but since then it’s been our most played game. Another highlight was meeting the lovely Bez who I’ll be working with demoing their games at Airecon 2019 and UK Expo too.
 
April 

We did some events in cafes this year as well as pubs and bars- a chance for people to have a night off from cooking and enjoy some board games with the family. This meant that I’ve enjoyed loads of delicious food from a range of local cafes. Plus slightly further afield at Mrs Smith’s Harrogate which even offers weight loss friendly meals which is awesome and delicious. It’s also given me the opportunity to support some local good causes like The Courtyard Cafe in Horsforth and in January we’ll be at Keepers Coffee for an Exploding Kittens tournament and cake!
 
May

Board Games at Weddings are perfect for those who don’t want to spend the whole night on the dance floor and is a great shared activity for people who don’t know one another. I always take a variety of games including retro favourites, co-operative games and party games too. I’m looking forward to the weddings we’ve got booked for next year and hoping to get some more booked in too.
 
June

What a fabulous summer 2018 was. We spent lots of fun Sundays at Hyde Park Book Club gaming in the sunshine. We’re there every third Sunday and hopefully in 2019 from about May onwards you’ll find us set up outside and soaking up the sun!
 
July

This year was the first time Cards or Die has participated in the Horsforth Walk of Art. Despite competing with the football on one of the days we still had an excellent turnout with lots of people having a break from their wanders at the Board Game tent – two gazebos full of board games choices! Because we were at home, people had the full collection to choose from whereas usually I have to take a selection to events. With over 300 different games on the menu it’s usually impossible to give people access to all of them. The children had fun baking for the event and playing games on the day so it was a real family event. The giant Pass the Pigs had their first airing!
 
August

n August I took a selection of games to the Furnace Social Club at West Yorkshire Playhouse for a great night of gaming and relaxed networking. Pit went down very well as always. First released in 1909 it’s a timeless classic- great for parties and large groups. It involves lots of shouting and my version comes with a deliciously retro orange metal bell which I think should be included in every edition. You compete to corner the market on the product of your choice, collecting a set by trading with others. Once you’ve got the complete set you get to ding the bell and trading ends! Fast paced, shouty fun.
 
September 

After a long, long wait during which time I learnt that it is far easier to get a million board games made than it is to get two printed (!) I finally got my first bespoke board game completed. I delivered it to Gateway Family Services for them to use in their training of staff on care navigation. I thoroughly enjoyed the creative process of designing it. I think that playing games is a brilliant training device – the game I designed is purpose built to train in a specific area and I have designed it flexibly allowing different areas to be focussed on in different playthroughs. People engage with games because it’s fun and different. Learning through play can be stimulating and challenging, allowing people to experiment with different scenarios and risks; to balance working as a team with individual responsibilities and to celebrate each other’s contributions.

I also delivered some team building in Wrexham. I taught the teams Escape Zombie City – a frantic co-operative game where you have to work together under pressure to achieve progressively more difficult outcomes. Nothing bonds people like surviving a zombie apocalypse together! It was interesting to watch the dynamics as people were moved to different teams. It was certainly not the team building they were expecting and it was great to receive lots of lovely feedback.
 
October

During half term I had my first booking at The Horse and Bamboo theatre over in Rossendale. A lovely little theatre with some excellent productions. The event was packed out – in fact we had to get mats out for people to sit on as there weren’t enough chairs and tables! This group didn’t seem to mind as they got stuck into a game on Gobblin’ Goblins – a game of gross foods and tricky goblins. We’re back there on the 27th January 2019.
 
November

Every November a group of – I’m not going to say old …. – longstanding friends and I go off somewhere. This year we glamped on a bus in Shropshire. There are a few constants in this arrangement – prosecco, some sort of spa/ hot tub experience, great food and I bring the games. We played Geistes Blitz, In A Bind, Logo Game, Outburst, Whist and Who Did It? I laughed so much when we played Who Did It? that my face hurt. Enjoying games with friends is one of the things that inspired me to start Cards or Die and when you teach a game that people love it’s such a great feeling. Games really can bring people together in such a positive way. 
 
December

What a fantastic end to my year! I’ve been nominated for Independent Business of The Year. I’d love it if you could take a moment to vote for me – although just the nomination is amazing to be honest. I work hard and I passionately believe that my business can be a force for good. I want to play my part in tackling social isolation, in helping people get together and not feel alone; to support others with mental health difficulties and to support good causes like The Courtyard Cafe and Keepers Coffee and Kitchen. This nomination means a lot and when times are challenging I know it will help me to keep doing the thing! 
 
Join us at a Cards or Die event. 

2018: is safe to come out yet?

December 23, 2018

by admin Uncategorized

Wishing you all Yuletide light, love and blessings. I haven’t always marked Yule but over the last few years I have embraced the celebration. It seems so natural to celebrate the end of the short winter days and the coming of the light. 2018 has been a dark year for me and I am more than ready for lighter times.
 
It’s that time of year when everyone starts claiming the new year for themselves. I’m not even going to attempt to trump their claims – they can have it. I don’t need 2019 to be my year, I just need it to be a bit kinder to me than 2018 was.
 
2018 was mainly poo. But even in the poo there were glimmers of hope and positivity. I just need to give them a bit of a clean up so we can see them properly. Let’s start with the deaths of my parents…
 
We fought for them and for their welfare even when they fought against us. They both had good deaths in places where they were cared for by people who really cared. When the people who sat with your mum as she died can’t speak because they will cry, you can’t ask for more. The way the Macmillan nurse looked at my Dad with such fondness reassured me that it didn’t matter if we weren’t there at the exact moment of their deaths. 
 
This was a significant and liberating realisation for me. In fact it is not the last breath that counts but all the times before that. It is their life that I want to remember, not their death. It was not possible for me to spend every waking minute at their sides, counting each breath. Waiting. 
 
It is heart breaking to be without them, especially at Christmas, but at least this grief is pure, unadulterated grief. Last Christmas they were already gone – taken by dementia. They looked like them and there were glimpses of them there but often they were frustrating, exhausted and exhausting. I spent more time trying not to be angry with them than is healthy. And yet more time berating myself for being angry. But now in the space where they should be – the phonecalls, the visits, the ridiculous Christmas ornaments – there is just loss and sadness. And that feels right. I’m not OK. Knowing and feeling that it’s ok not to be ok helps me accept that I will be.
 
Looking back over 2018 it can be hard to see positives through the blinding grief but they are there, nestling amongst the day to day sadnesses and losses. In fact as Romeo once had to be reminded there is ‘a pack of blessings light on my back’. 
 
When I realised my Dad was dying, I contacted him brother who we had lost touch with over time. His brother came to see him and now we will remain in touch. I have gained an Uncle.
 
As I said, we fought every step of the way for and against Mum and Dad and we made sure they had good ends to their lives. 
 
When my Mum’s dementia got so bad that she lost touch with my Uncle, I picked up that contact and visited him a few times. We reminisced about holidays we had together – good times. He died earlier in the year. I am so glad that I spent time with him. He was funny and positive and always made the best of things. I will miss him but that sadness is imbued with happy memories and gratitude that I had that time with him.
 
We were burgled this year and I lost a lot of jewellery. Thankfully they missed Mum’s jewellery. It’s only stuff but it’s stuff that’s inextricably linked with memories and I’m glad that I can wear her rings.
 
The other battle I’ve successfully fought is getting my son the school provision he needs. It was tough, some days it still is. Some days trying to (sometimes failing to) get him into school is an emotional tightrope walk which leaves me struggling to balance. Daily I remind myself and him that we are getting there. 
 
The business has continued to grow stronger. Being nominated for the Yorkshire Choice Award for Independent Business has been a lovely end to the year. It has also prompted me to reflect over 2018 in a much more positive frame of mind. 
 
I normally set resolutions or at least suggest resolutions for other people. There’s just a couple – one for me and one for you and if you can all do your best with it, I’d appreciate it: if everyone could just stop dying (-just for 2019) – just while I recover that would be ideal.
 
And me? I’ll just crack on with ‘doing the thing’. I think I’ve been doing the thing well on the whole and if I just keep doing it… well, everything will fall into place… eventually.

Get your own daily reminder from Katie Abey.

Chicken Time Warp: Soup for the Gamer’s Soul

December 18, 2018

by admin Uncategorized

3-6 Players
14+ (or younger – our 10 year old loves this)
Less than 30mins
 
If you find yourself reflecting on the relentless and ever quickening passage of time in a rueful manner. Or, if you enjoy anthropomorphic chickens then this is one especially for you.
 
To be honest, you had me at time travelling chickens. The theme of this pocket rocket of a game is an absolute joy. You are a group of chickens who have broken all the rules by fiddling about with time travel causing an endless time vortex to be opened. Let’s be grateful chickens didn’t get hold of the Hadron Collider. To escape the vortex you need an Escape Pod and impeccable timing.
 
First, you set out your timeline in countdown order: 10 down to Escape Window Open. Each turn – before playing your chosen card – players reveal another countdown card. This means that time flies and you career rapidly towards the escape window often without the requisite escape pod. Whenever a time slips away card is revealed, the highest face-up timeline card is removed from play. (It is possible to end up with only the Escape Window card- fortunately it is immune to the ravages and cruel whims of time.)

The clux capacitor (yes that’s right – take a moment to enjoy that one) is a powerful card. It can enable you to cheat death and temporarily halt the relentless passage of time. It enables you to Turn Back Time and sing classic Cher songs at the top of your lungs.* 
 
Time travel is fraught with danger and if you don’t tread lightly, you can end up erasing your own existence and no chicken wants that. You get two chances though. The first time you draw a You Dead card and learn that a distant relative has killed you, you are frozen out of the game unless you can play a clux capacitor card. You place your character card on the timeline at the moment of your death. You remain there – frozen out, unable to play. You can only watch in tense horror as the cards are taken until either, a clux capacitor which revives you is played, or, until a time slips away card is drawn and you are not just dead but erased from existence. It’s ok though, you’re not so dead that you can’t go to the bar and get the next round in while the rest of us try to escape.
 
Winning

Winning is easy – all you need to do is 
Pick up the escape pod 
Hold on to the escape pod 
Play the escape pod while the window is open 
That’s all you have to do. Don’t have the escape pod? Don’t worry you can just swap hands, peek at other people’s cards (legally – with a card, not just with strategic reflective surface placement) and steal it! Or failing that use reverse and cryogenic freezing to buy yourself time to get some more strategic cards. Time is critical in this game and there isn’t much of it. 
 

This is a fun, quick play, take that card game. It’s portable which is always a plus. Great for families or groups of adults – we’re definitely backing it. You can see by the photos how many different places we’ve played it in and we haven’t even had it a week! (and I’ve spared you the flowery tablecloth of doom photos for once). You have two lives, limited time and a random selection of tactics. So how about it McFly – will you play…. or are you too…. CHICKEN??
 
*It’s more of a house rule than a legitimate part of the game.**
** Actually it’s only me that sings. My family just wait patiently for it to be over. 
 
Come and play it at a Cards or Die event. 

Posts in category: Uncategorized

Eeeek It’s nearly time for Airecon.

A week in war time games.

War Time Gaming.

This Valentine’s find your perfect game set and match.

Risk. Why is it so loved?

Board Games are for life not just for Christmas.

Charades, Noise and Social Ridiculousness

My Year in Games.

2018: is safe to come out yet?

Chicken Time Warp: Soup for the Gamer’s Soul

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