The purpose of this channel is to introduce casual gamers to the wide variety of board and card games that are available today by showing and discussing these games, including games that I have introduced to my wife Alicia. From entry-level games to family games to party games, my purpose is to educate about game mechanics, discuss the different themes in games and to help you find the next game that you will enjoy.
For review copies and collaboration request, please contact Dwayne Shearill at shearilldwayne@gmail.com
@HassanDervish 0 seconds ago Hi This KS has come to a grinding halt. Do you have anything faith this game will come to fruition? (You might know him personally and can vouch for Sean ).
Terrific video! A lot of good stuff coming out at Essen! Canopy Evergreen was just delivered today---can't wait to play it! AND...we finally played (& loved) Evacuation (which was an Essen release *last* year)😁🚀 I wonder which of this year's Essen games I'll be playing a year from now!🤣
Missed opportunity for them to title it “Neko Syndi-Cat”. Nothing from Essen is jumping out at me. A lot of them appear to be 2 hr Euros, which I don’t have much more room in my collection for.
yay for neko syndicate! i’m interested for sure in Galileo Galilei, but not sure if the inquisition theme behind it will be too much of a turnoff for me. Also interested in Unconscious Mind but need to see how much it’s changed from the prototype - I understand it’s quite different! Fromage could be fun and also Explorers of Navoria - I wonder how necessary the variable player powers and setup are for that game - their exclusion from the retail edition could limit it’s desirability.
We got to play a round of Intarsia at Gen Con and we really enjoyed it. I'm also interested in Tea Garden. Looks so pretty! And SETI piques my interest, but I also run away from it. 😅
I sometimes get intimated by jargon from more experienced gamers because I'm not super familiar with gaming terms. For example, I'm not 100% sure what an abstract game is or an asymmetric game. When folks drop those terms, my brain goes "Oh they're serious" and then I get a bit intimidated.
@JymmiF never be afraid to ask about an aspect of a board game that you don't understand completely, whether if it is concerning a mechanic or a board game term. If a more experienced gamer is teaching, that person should be receptive to questions. An abstract game is one that is more about the mechanics and less about theme, like chess. An asymmetric board game is a game where the players have different powers/abilities, like Root. I hope that helps. Thanks for watching!
Nice video! My son-in-law is a grill master, so I’ve got to get license to grill. Stalk Exchange looks very interesting; would love to see a play through! Thanks for the video.
I also like Ark Nova. I find that learning a game takes multiple steps. First, I watch a video with a setup and a playthrough. Then a quick read of the manual followed by a 2-handed solo game. This might end before the end if I feel lost or uncertain about a rule(s). Then back to a playthrough and a closer read of the manual. Then I play again and might watch another playthrough to make sure I didn't forget something. Once you learn it wrong, it's difficult to fix. There might be additional playthroughs if the solo mode requires different rules. For example, "Tank Duel" was a tough one for me to play solo with any confidence. I had to create a series of cards with all the steps. A game that is difficult for me is "Heaven and Ale". Learning it is not too bad, but playing it well is another thing.
Dive is one of our go-to summer games! (And we found out about it from your channel!) We call it by a different name, though. Around our house we call it "Shark or No Shark?"🤣🦈 Because that's what we say when we reveal the layers to see if we guessed right!🤣
Nice video! Not sure which games I would pick, but I know anything nature themes sure fits the bill cause we enjoy hiking. You can also throw all the gardening games in here too 😀
Really appreciate you folks talking about the challenges of learning complex games. I feel that some designers ruin their game by adding complexity just to prevent some obsessive players from finding a sure fire way to win with certain overpowered strategies. I would prefer that they design for a more general audience who just want to enjoy playing the game a few times a year.
Great list, and a valuable message. For some people (especially introverts), just the idea of putting your intelligence to the test in front of strangers (by playing a game with them) can be intimidating. It's hard to remember that "it's just a game", and people build up an idea that they will look foolish and be ridiculed. Co-ops can help with this, but not always. Personally, I find social deduction to be intimidating. I don't like to be deceitful, and I don't want to mess the game up for everyone else by failing to lie well.
A handful of modern boardgames are indeed catered to seasoned players. This means they've seen and been through older games, meaning new games that appeal to them need to have something different.... and often times the answer most designers go with is to add more to it. This is akin to how many people think back to how times in the past were simpler, even outside of games, but life in general. Casual gamers in some sense have extra homework to do to pick up all the new things that modern games bring to the table. I didn't know about auctioning and economy games back then. Definitely starting smaller with lower complexities is a straightforward way to move people into more complex games as you ease in new mechanisms.
@aos-archive totally agree. That's where patience and awareness come in when introducing games. You can't push folks into the deep end without knowing if they are up to the challenge.
I'm not intimidated by games so much as disinterested in certain games that seem like more work than fun. If I'm supposed to build my army, or my robot, or track my expenses while growing a business, it needs to be a simplified version of those things. If not, then I expect a paycheck at the end of the game!
Great video on a good topic! I am with Alicia in preferring mid to light games. I do love Ark Nova and it is the heaviest game I play. I play a lot of games but rarely try very heavy games as I just don’t find they are worth it to me, esp as I am unlikely to play them many more times. Also, good point that we all can find certain mechanics more intimidating (I too don’t like auctions or area control). Thanks.
I get intimidated by war game rule books, generally because they are written so differently (often poorly as a teaching tool, imo) than typical modern board games. This video is a great reminder that board games can be intimidating, and we need to consider the people we are introducing a game too, and THEIR level of preparedness, not just yours.
Im back! What intimidates me the most is learning a game! I dont think I'm very good at reading rule books 😥. But some how I figure it out, with videos and reading the rules and going back and forth. Funny thing, my brother is also a board gamer, but he almost exclusively plays war games - he's working on designing one! And he loves to read rule books. I guess we just have different brains!
Some rulebooks are written by people who assume the reader is already familiar with mechanisms, and word it accordingly to not feel like this overexplain things.
I teach Ark Nova, but have only watched Evacuation a little. Ark Nova is one where I lightly review general actions, then just show how a turn plays. Some games are simpler to see them in action and Ark Nova is one of them. The game itself is simple at the core, but the numerous cards and minor options can be overwhelming. I don't want players to get bogged down trying to remember the little options. I want them to focus on the core mechanics.
Oh my goodness, YES! Just got Fields of Green expecting a relaxing farming game to play with friends' kids. It is so much more complex than I thought. I may come up with my own rules for the kids - like seeing who can make the biggest fields or animal collections (roughly the ribbons in the Grand Faire expansion).
Games that are too heavy intimidate me. I used to think that I wanted that, but as life gets busier I don’t have time for tons of rules reading. I am gravitating towards quicker games.
Thanks for joining us for World Wonders! That was a fun, tight, challenging game. Great to see you again this year! Hope to see you again sometime soon.
I was tempted to back Mistwind but held back due to the price. Glad to hear that you really liked it. I definitely want to try it when I get the chance. Also, I had been wanting to play Wonderland's War for a while and finally got the opportunity at my first board game convention too, which was in this past Feb.
I had lots of fun with it! I'd love to play it more, but it seems to be hard to find and very expensive. Also, it seems like a very big game in terms of learning, time, and table space, and I already have a bunch of games in that "very big" category, ha, but maybe I'll pick it up someday if I find it on sale.
Thanks for teaching us a couple games! It's always a great time hanging out with you! We bought Things in Rings immediately and played it a few more times that weekend!
