It’s Cthulhu Tuesday
Hello gentle readers! I have two very Lovecraftian selections for you all today: First, I’ve officially opened the Dice Hate Me store! Inside you will find the first of many designs to come, as my archivists have uncovered a rare advertisement from an obscure purveyor of fine tonics and elixirs. Yes, it’s an old ad for Miska-Tonic! It’s necrilicious. Check it out here and select your favorite – a t-shirt or tote. Buy two, they’re small! Second, in honor of that rare eldritch find, I have prepared a review of The Stars are Right, by Steve Jackson Games. This card/tile-pushing puzzle game is challenging, a lot of fun,... Read More
The Stars Are Right: Hold Onto Your Sanity
One of the main themes in H.P. Lovecraft’s horrific tales was man’s tenuous grasp on his fragile sanity. It’s pretty safe to say that this theme is carried out splendidly in The Stars Are Right. You will lose sanity points. Resistance is futile. This brain-twisting diversion from Steve Jackson Games is a bit of a conundrum. It’s billed as a card game, but the cards are the simplest component. The real heart of the game lies in the 5×5 grid of tiles adorned with eclipsed moons, stars, meteors and such that constantly shift and switch places during the course of a game. It’s this oft-maddening entropy that lends... Read More
Alien Frontiers: A New World for Game Publishing
One of the biggest challenges for boardgame creators is getting that great idea from their minds to inside the stores so it can be put on the table. Traditionally, options have been limited: shop the game concept around to various large publishers in the hope that they will provide funding or self-publish a very small print run in the hopes of raising enough to support another edition. Recently, however, fledgling designers and publishers have found another alternative online – crowdfunding. In this process, creators release their idea into the wilds of the internet, requesting backers for the project who donate anywhere from $5 to $1,000... Read More
The Pros and Cons of Cons
Ah, Summer. Tis the season of spray-on tans, silicon, shiny smiles and sparsely-clad young sprites – all crammed into hundreds of ten-foot cubicles, peddling the geekiest things on the planet. Yes, people, tis the season of the booth babe, and thus the season of the Cons. With Comic-Con kicking off its 40th year of grandiose festivities, I thought it was the perfect time to take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of some of geek culture’s greatest yearly conventions. Consider this a primer for the uninitiated. Feel free to clip and save, people. Origins (late June) You'd better hope you roll high on your plague saving throw... Read More
Pub Play: Cathedral
In 1962, Royal New Zealand Air force pilot Bob Moore flew several training maneuvers around Christchurch Cathedral and became fascinated by the architecture and the interlocking structure of the streets and buildings below. Several years later, Bob spun this early fascination into the prototype for Cathedral, a game in which the pieces evoke a medieval city surrounded by a wall. Cathedral is played on a grid with interlocking, building-like pieces. The object is simple: capture as much territory in the city grid as possible by taking turns placing your differently-shaped building pieces. With careful placement, whole sections of the city can be... Read More
Shenanigans on a Sinking Sub
It’s dark and cold on the old sub, and the sides creak from pressure while a bulkhead springs a leak. Fire spreads in the engine room and the crew scrambles, snuffing it as the reactor heats up. Hope seems lost until a hand cranks the emergency release and the sub surges along, peaceful for a moment – and for just a moment, the gnomes on board celebrate. Yes, gnomes. Red November is a delightful, cooperative board game from Fantasy Flight Games that pits you and up to seven of your companions in a frantic race for survival aboard a sinking sub with a gnomish crew. The whimsical theme and quality components bring levity to hectic and often... Read More
