FDQ: What Game Gets a '10'?

There was quite the Twitter conversation a few days ago based on what games (if any) deserve a 10 on the Board Game Geek 10-point scale. So that's the question today: what games do you rate a 10? Answer in the comments! (Special thanks to @benny275 for the question.)

@FarmerLenny answers:
I had a professor in college who never gave a perfect score on papers because he wanted to let his students know there was always room for improvement. That's why I counted it among my best moments at college when he gave one of my papers a 96—the highest he would possibly go.

But listen, folks: this isn't college, and we're not trying to keep entitled college students humble. We are part of a hobby that is supposed to be fun. Saying "There is no perfect game" with our noses in the air isn't exactly inviting to newcomers. And while I agree that there is likely not an absolutely "perfect" game that fits every situation and group, that's no reason to avoid giving a game a 10. This is also why the discussion of late about "serious" board game criticism is not attractive to me. Have we forgotten the joy of the hobby? There is such a thing as overthinking it or too much self-reflection, and we're in serious danger of it when we travel these waters.

I don't exactly hand them out liberally, but when I look at my list on Board Game Geek, the games I've given a 10 are El Grande, Dominion: Intrigue, and Dominion: Prosperity. There are a few games at the 9.5 level (Dominion and Dominion: Hinterlands), and many at the 9 level. Actually, my ratings appear to follow a fairly standard distribution: five 10s, twenty-one 9s, thirty-four 8s, twenty-four 7s, five 6s (and then a few fall in the 3-5 category). Do my ratings skew high? Probably a bit, but there are a few explanations for that. First, I do a lot of research before I add any games to my collection. With a limited budget, I can only add to my collection periodically, so every purchase counts. I usually only buy a game that there's a good chance I'll like. Second, I try to evaluate games based not on my favorite game but based on how well it fits a situation. I rate The Resistance a 9; that doesn't mean I always want to play The Resistance. And third, I try to keep gaming as a hobby, not an all-consuming passion. This can be difficult at times, but when I approach board games looking for fun, I can usually find it—even in Cosmic Encounter.

@Futurewolfie answers:
It all depends on the target "audience" per say when handing out ratings.  When I rate games as far as how I feel about them, there are definitely a few 10's - Cosmic Encounter, Twilight Imperium for certain, and a few others that will probably make the cut once i've played them more (such as Battlestar Galactica or Rex... holy crap those are all FFG games.  Not on purpose.  Dominion (w/expansions), Smallworld, phew, there's a few non FFG ones.)  Plenty of 9's (I find it rather funny that no matter what scale of rating system we use, we will almost certainly want to add a ".5" in there somewhere).  These are games that I greatly enjoy and love playing and have no reservations at all about playing them.

But rating publicly, I feel I need to be more objective.  Do I think any of these games is truly flawless?  Twilight Imperium certainly lasts too long and has a few finicky issues, especially without expansions.  Cosmic Encounter has a few unbalanced powers, and some games end too quickly, go to long, or just fall flat.  Dominion has a few weird uber-strategies that might come into the mix, and is not extremely interactive between players (although more than some would claim).  Smallworld might just last a little too long.  These are things that should objectively knock off points from a public review.  Or should they?  What do you think?

Another thing about the number rating system is that it's wildly arbitrary.  A number can be based off a whole slew of conditions, including the person's emotional state at the time of rating, based on a play with annoying players (or even a bad day having nothing to do with the game itself).  Which is why you should find a trustworthy review site and read what they have to say about the game, and not just go on the numbers.

(Gaming) Life after Baby

As followers of this blog are well aware, I experienced a major life event in the last few months: the birth of my first son. While I am so grateful to have him around, there is one area of my life that has required a lot of adjustment: gaming.

My primary gaming partner before the Farmerlet arrived was my wife, but now with the (understandable) demands on her time, our gaming interactions have changed. So what have I been up to in the recent weeks? Find out below!

Troll Smash! (A Review of Cave Troll)

You may not know it, but Fantasy Flight Games, well known for epic games with extremely high production values, actually has a line of lower-cost, fast-playing small box games. The second edition of Cave Troll by designer Tom Jolly is one such game in this "Silver Line." A somewhat abstract game featuring area control, Cave Troll has heroes fighting monsters and other groups of heroes for the most gold-filled locations in the cave.

So, is this a cave worth exploring?

FDQ: What Do You Play to Relax?

Some days you don't want to play Agricola. Or Troyes. Or a game that burns your brains out. Some days you had a tough day at the office, or the babe you love so much has been screaming nonstop. Some days you need a stiff coffee, a cold piece of pie, and a relaxing game of...what? That's today's question: What game do you play to relax?

@FarmerLenny answers:
This has been in my thoughts lately, now that we have a new child in the house. While I often prefer the 60-90 minute games, my wife, who bears the brunt of the wee lad's whines and screams, if she wants to play anything, prefers to keep it light. And that's okay. So what games get played in our house when we want to relax?

Canasta is an old favorite. Canasta is a breezy game that can allow conversation or not, and since my wife and I have played this game for years, it doesn't require the brain power of some of the newer, shinier games. (Even newer games that are easy often require more brain power than the old stand-bys.) Jaipur is another game that can be relaxing. We also play Drop Site to unwind.

More recent acquisitions are Through the Desert (though playing with pastel camels after Easter seems unseasonal), Roll through the Ages, and Crokinole. I like the first two because they have some strategy and skill, but there aren't a lot of moving parts to monitor. I like Crokinole because all it is is moving parts. All of these games work well because they are played in rounds that usually last 10-20 minutes. They're easy to pick up and set down. And best of all, they allow us to be together and feel like we're doing something, even if it's not farming in the seventeenth century.

@Futurewolfie answers:
Honestly, playing board games in general is pretty relaxing to me.  Whatever hits the table, it's a chance to step back from the frenetic pace of digital life.  Even some of the more complex games throw less information per second at your eyes and brain than your average website.  Still, it's true, some games are more brain-burning than others and i'm not going to squeeze in Twilight Imperium for a quick break.  Most of the "relaxing" games I play with my wife, and we most commonly play Dominion.  Although Pandemic has seen quite the resurgence lately with the addition of the On the Brink expansion, and since it's cooperative there are no hard feelings at the end (except, perhaps, disappointment at a loss). 

Stacking the Deck: A Dominion Strategy Guide (Part 3)

So you're familiarizing yourself with deck-building concepts, and you've started to commit specific Dominion techniques to memory. But how do you know the best cards to choose?

It helps to understand the various elements that appear on Dominion cards. You know, the +1 Cards, the +1 Buys, etc. etc. You may know the mechanics, but do you really understand what they mean?

Lets talk about that.

It's a Rich Man's World (a review of Money)

It was a few weeks before Thanksgiving, and I had what turned out to be an awkward conversation with my wife.

"My sister called. She wants to borrow Money."

My wife was doing the dishes. She paused, gave me a puzzled look, and said, "Why would she want to borrow money—from us?" I'm the youngest in my family, and this would be a severe breach of the rules of family flow.

Thankfully, after this point we both shared a laugh. My sister wasn't asking to borrow the Benjamins; she was asking to borrow Reiner Knizia's blind bidding and bluffing game of exchanging currencies. So we know that my sister liked it. What do I think? Find out below!

FDQ: Do You Have a FLGS?

FLGS? What, did you forget the A? Why are you talking about flags on a gaming blog?

Silly patron, FLGS means "friendly local game store." These are magical places where you are not a lone hobbyist trying to convince others that board games are awesome. These are places stocked with wooden bits, just waiting for you to plunk down your hard-earned (and sometimes hardly earned) cash. So do you have a FLGS? Do you shop there? Do you think others should? Answer in the comments!

@FarmerLenny answers:
I don't really have a FLGS that's super close, but I count Fair Game as my store. Since it's not all that close, I don't go in often, but I appreciate the friendly and knowledgeable staff. I also like that the store is laid out well, and while it's obviously a haven for nerds, you don't feel like you are bombarded with nerd vibes when you walk in. Basically, it's a place I can take my wife without her feeling she needs a shower afterward. (Though it's right next door to a yarn shop, and when we make a trip together, we usually split up.) This store also has open gaming on Saturday nights (though I've only played once; I've gone twice...).

The idea of supporting a FLGS is appealing to me, but I don't do it as often as I'd like, mostly because no store really feels "local." My store certainly is friendly, though.

@Futurewolfie answers:
I wish I had a more local FLGS, but even though my location is fairly close to @FarmerLenny's, I prefer the oh-so-epic Games Plus.  The place doesn't look like much from the outside (each friend i've brought there has been quite underwhelmed at the front door) but upon entering it is much like walking through the wardrobe into Narnia.  There are shelves and shelves of all the glorious things us gamers love.  There's the Warhammer 40k section, multiple large shelves of board games, and stacks upon stacks of RPG source books.  The walls are lined with minis, there's a section for landscape modeling, shelves of extra gaming bits like cubies and card sleeves, and boatloads of dice.  Okay, so it is definitely geek city, and your non-gamer wife/girlfriend/friend may feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable there.  But I don't go there for them, I go there for me.

Unfortunately it's really too far away to visit regularly, which is too bad because I wouldn't mind participating in their gaming events.  But I do take a special trip out there now and again, mostly to buy useful supplies like card boxes, bits, and RPG supplies.  (Incidentally, this is a clear reason why mine and @Farmerlenny's preference differs; Fair Game is a great store, but it's exclusively board games, while I have a gaming group that plays RPGs as well).

If you're in the chicagoland area, definitely give it a check-out.


Got a question you'd like answered or discussed?  Tweet us at @iSlaytheDragon, leave a comment on this post, or send an email to egosumlupus@gmail.com

Know Your Role! (a review of Puerto Rico)

Puerto Rico was once the highest-rated game on Board Game Geek, and it currently occupies position #3 of all board games ever. But what with the recent reviewing "controversy" mentioned on BGG (and commented on by @Futurewolfie), how does one approach reviewing so stately a classic?

Well, at least on my end, being newer to the hobby, I approach Puerto Rico as a relative newbie, without the baggage of its longstanding reputation. So what did I think of this classic? Find out below!

Stacking the Deck: A Dominion Strategy Guide (Part 2)

So if you read the previous post, you may now have started to understand deck-building as a whole. You're starting to get that it's not just about adding any and all cards to your deck willy-nilly, but picking and choosing the ones that actually get your deck closer to accomplishing its goal. You know that getting rid of useless cards can be a more effective turn than keeping them.

But still, it's hard to put these concepts into practice, without... well, a little practice. Each deck-building game is a little different, but this is a Dominion strategy guide. So let's dive in to Dominion.

In Defense of Slaying Dragons

There has been a little controversy lately on BGG regarding game reviews. If you're interested in following through the full story, check out these links here, here, and here.

The question flying around basically comes down to this: do game reviewers spend enough time playing games before they review them? As a reviewer myself, I felt it worthwhile to write a response to these questions.

Caveman Economics (a review of Power Grid: The First Sparks)

I used to follow Rare's video games because I liked GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64 so much. One of the games they had in their queue was an adventure game called Dinosaur Planet. I followed it with mild interest, mostly because GoldenEye was so good that I was willing to take a chance on an unbranded franchise. Delay after delay occurred, and finally, the game was released as Star Fox Adventures, the original game I had followed with a veneer of Star Fox theme. The game wasn't great, and the Star Foxisms were distracting. (Perhaps the greatest of this game's sins, though, was the dinosaur who followed Fox around saying, "Dum dee dum!" But I digress...)

So when I heard about Power Grid: The First Sparks, I assumed it was similar to the Dinosaur Planet/Star Fox Adventures situation: a decent game had been developed but needed the crutch of strong source material to pass muster. However, after several plays of The First Sparks, I can say that this game has truly earned its Power Grid moniker. But how does it stack up against its predecessor? Find out below!

Stacking the Deck: A Dominion Strategy Guide (Part 1)

So you've got a copy of Dominion and a group of people to play with. You enjoy it, but you've found yourself on the losing end of far too many games, and you're ready to step it up.

You've maybe looked up a few guides on the Internet (or maybe you haven't), but they've all been too technical, too mathy, with too many statistics. You just want to play, but you want to play well.

Well, look no further, friend, fellow player, and loyal dragon-slaying compatriot! With this guide, I aim to teach you a few principles that will help you improve your game with any set of cards. I won't just give you strategies, but the concepts behind the strategies that will help you understand not just what to do, but why you do them, so you can make quick decisions on how to build your deck after a quick glance at the cards available. And finally, I think these tips will help you not just play better, but have even more fun with a delightfully well-designed game.

In this multi-part series, I will start with basic and general deck-building concepts, which will help you understand any deck-building game a little better. In the next part, I'll delve into Dominion-specific strategies, focusing on concepts that will help you play better and understand how to see when and where cards will be useful. Finally, I will look at some specific cards, pointing out some of my favorites and how they can be used to deadly effect, as well as cards that I don't think are all that great.

Reading and mastering these tips will not guarantee your victory every time, but when you learn these things, you will certainly play better, win more often, and have a whole lot of fun while doing it!  Read on, compatriots!