Spiel.Digital 2020 in Essen
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Posted on October 22nd, 2020 by
The largest gaming convention in the world is not GenCon or PAX. It is Spiel (literally “Game” in German) an annual gathering in Essen Germany. Typically it is housed in six huge halls in the Essen convention center. Publishers from all over the world attend, many of them using the convention to make their holiday season releases. While there is obviously a very strong German presence (boardgaming has been a popular family activity for many years,) gamers from all over Europe and the rest of the world flock to Essen to get a chance to be the first to see (and buy) these new games. Obviously, a huge in-person convention is just not going to happen this year, so the organizers have created a virtual convention Spiel.Digital that is absolutely free and runs 24 hrs a day from Thursday, October 22nd through Sunday, October 25th.
Super-Skill Pinball (Boardgame)
Posted on October 1st, 2020 by
Super-Skill Pinball is a great example of how a boardgame’s mechanics and theme can be interwoven to produce a gaming experience that gives the “feel” of the original theme. Playing the roll and write boardgame Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade feels like playing a pinball. Someone rolls a pair of dice and then players use either die to record the movement of their pinball on their personal dry-erase game board, marking off locations as they are “hit.” Eventually, a player will “lose” their ball off the bottom of the board and will need to start again. After everyone has played through three balls, players total up their accumulated points to record a winner.
PAX Online 2020
Posted on September 25th, 2020 by
The Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX for short, is one of the largest video game conventions open to the public. Unfortunately, the flagship show, PAX West in Seattle, had to be cancelled this year because of COVID. So instead, they created PAX Online, which was all last week. Virtual showgoers could watch videos of upcoming games, and even try demos of some of them on Steam and Xbox Live. I got a virtual press pass to the event, so here’s an article about the show.
Minecraft Creeper Crunch Cereal
Posted on September 18th, 2020 by
You know you’ve hit the big time when you have your own breakfast cereal. And Minecraft has definitely hit the big time ten times over. It’s one of the most popular games ever made. I’ve never played it myself, but that’s only because I’m purposely staying away from it as I’m afraid I would get addicted to it. I’m bad enough as it is with Animal Crossing! I would especially like to try Minecraft now that there is a Pac-Man update to it! Anyway, so when I saw the very last box of a Minecraft cereal at Wal-Mart, I knew I had to get it and review it! I wonder if this stuff is hard to find now, like the Mario cereal used to be?
Unplugged: Pandemic – The Boardgame
Posted on September 12th, 2020 by
The world-wide Covid-19 pandemic has been ever present over the past year, forcing many families to stay home together for extended periods of time, perhaps putting a strain on relationships for all those cooped up together. While a cutthroat game of Monopoly might just make things worse, perhaps a cooperative game (where everyone wins or loses together) might be in order. Pandemic burst onto the boardgame scene in 2008, with its success spawning an entire line of Pandemic-themed cooperative games where players must work together to protect the world from an encroaching disaster. While the theme of a Pandemic may be too close to home for some, the games respectively deal with the issues at hand and may serve as a surrogate way for gamers to put themselves into an active role in the game’s fictional pandemic.
Street Fighter World Warrior Encyclopedia: Arcade Edition
Posted on September 11th, 2020 by
Udon Entertainment publishes a lot of artbooks and comics featuring Capcom characters, especially ones from the Street Fighter series. I was lucky enough to get a review copy of one of their newest artbooks, the Street Fighter World Warrior Encyclopedia: Arcade Edition! It features information and artwork of every character in the series! So let’s take a look at it! Plus a surprise bonus!
The Games of the Turbo Grafx-16 Mini Wrap Up
Posted on September 4th, 2020 by
Throughout the whole month of August, I took a look at all the games in the Turbo Grafx-16 Mini! There were so many that I had to split them into five parts! So for your convenience, here are links to all the articles all in one place in case you missed anything.
Unplugged: Tales from the Loop (RPG)
Posted on July 28th, 2020 by
Imagine a game set in the 80s where kids on bikes explore their local town. While dealing with every-day problems of parents, bullying, and homework they simultaneously need to sort out strange, otherworldly happenings that somehow just don’t seem to grasp the attention of the adults. One’s first thought may be to think of the Netflix series, Stranger Things but I’m actually referring to the role playing game, Tales from the Loop. The Tales from the Loop role playing game (tagline: Roleplaying in the ‘80s That Never Was) was actually conceived as a stretch goal of a Kickstarter project over a year before the Netflix series ever aired. The Kickstarter project actually set out to compile the hauntingly nostalgic art of Simon Stålenhag of Sweden. His images contrast the everyday life of living in a small town in the 80s, juxtapositioned with what-if images of robots and alien technology. The two art books were easily funded, and a stretch goal was set out (and met) to create a role-playing game based on the art. In a serendipitous moment, the role playing book was released just a few short months after the Stranger Things series and the hype from the Netflix series helped to push the role playing game into the limelight. Jump forward a few years, and publishers have now released a Starter Edition of the game, containing premade characters, the basic rules, dice, and a short playable scenario. Combined with Simon Stålenhag’s surreal art, the box serves as an excellent introduction to the core mechanics and standard backstory for the game. (One final aside, we’ve now come full circle for both Tales from the Loop and Stranger Things. You can watch Tales from the Loop on Amazon Prime and there’s a version of the D&D RPG based on the Stranger Things series on Netflix.)
Tales from the Loop (Roleplaying in the ‘80s That Never Was)
Publisher: Free League Publishing
(Review copy provided by Free League Publishing)
Cary’s Best Games of 2020 SO FAR Awards Show!
Posted on July 24th, 2020 by
WORST. YEAR. EVER. I think we can all agree that 2020 has been one of the worst years in our lifetime, what with the Coronavirus, quarantines, riots and looting, and much more. Some days I wonder if we’ll EVER get through this. But there is one good thing about this year so far. We’ve had quite a lot of really good games come out the first half of this year! Normally I like to write a blog this time of year with my favorite games of the year so far, because the holiday titles and E3 announcements usually take precedence by the end of the year. Of course, because of the Coronavirus there was no E3 this year, and as of this writing we still don’t know what big games will be out for Christmas. Just another reason why this year sucks. So I don’t know how much different my list will be by the end of the year. But keep in mind that this is my list and my picks only, no outside opinions and whatnot. And if a game isn’t on my list, it either just didn’t appeal to me or I haven’t played it yet. Can’t play ‘em all, you know! But with that out of the way, let’s take a look at my picks.
Unplugged: A Trio of Cat Boardgames
Posted on July 23rd, 2020 by
In the past few decades we’ve seen the power of cats. Take a popular item and stick a cat on it, and its popularity grows. Examples include Garfield (whose creator took a look and decided a cat-comic would sell well) and an extremely popular cat-based card game. (A cat game who must not be named – I fail to see the attraction of its randomness.) Today I want to take a look at a few cat-themed games that I’ve encountered in the past year or so. Cat Lady has players drafting cards off of a 3×3 grid to score points at the end of the game. Kibble Scuffle has players playing cats around feeding bowls in order to trigger a feeding phase. The Lady and the Tiger is a slight outlier, as only half of its richly illustrated cards show a tiger. It is also more than one game in a box as it contains five different games that can be played using the cards and glass tokens in the box. The three games span a wide variety of play styles, so there is sure to be one (or more) fit for your gaming needs.
