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I will be the first to admit that I enjoy boardgames quite a bit. It is my preferred method of entertainment. I will, however, be the last to admit that this hobby is too expensive. This is because my paradigm is governed by a little something I call the Popcorn Principle. Let me give you a recent example of this principle at work.

To Court the King is a delightful dice game that retails for around $30. At first blush, that might seem like a hefty sum for a dozen dice, and several times that many gorgeous cards. But look a little deeper. Apply the popcorn principle:
A game of To Court the King can be played in 30-45 minutes. And that is with anywhere from 2-5 people. I have personally played and enjoyed my copy of the game at least a dozen times. That means each of those plays has cost me less than $3.00. And that doesn’t even take into account how many other people I have also had the priviledge of entertaining.
A movie in the nice theater costs about $8.00 a ticket. Buy popcorn and a soda, and your total bill is up to roughly $15. Take a date, and you are all ready approaching $25 for 1-1/2 to 2 hours worth of entertainment. As a side note, have you seen some of the movies recently released? I use the word entertainment with some hesitation. Back to the Popcorn Principle. For 2 hours of cinematic entertainment for yourself and a date you have spent $25. But with my To Court the King example, I have spent $30 for a bare minimum of 6 hours of entertainment for myself a date, and two or three friends. And, everytime I get the chance to play again, my price of admission just got lower.
I do not suggest that one should cease attending movies, but I do encourage you to think a little differently next time you plan a date, or are trying to decide on the purchase of a new game. Long term, you’ll get a better reward payout if you simply apply The Popcorn Principle. Buy the game, play it, and plan to play again and again.

I’ve got some great recommendations.

-Josh

Last Friday, we finally got the chance to hook up with Matt and Sarah and play the Xbox game Karaoke Revolution. I didn’t make the connection at first, but this game is from the same people who created Dance, Dance Revolution. More on that later.

We started off our evening with dinner, where Matt regaled us with stories from his work as a surveyor. His delivery was as fun as the stories themselves, so I won’t try to recreate them here. But he proved to me that there are no limits to the bizarre things people do in their own personal spaces.

During dinner, they also told us about a couple games that we haven’t tried yet. One was a game called Acquire, which they said was awful. (ed. proving once again different strokes for different folks. I still consider Acquire to be a classic, but it is a brain burner -Josh.) I got the impression that if I played this game, I’d feel like I was working instead of relaxing. I will reserve judgment until I actually sit down and give it a chance, though. The other game they mentioned is called Mahjong. Matt’s dad introduced them to this one. They said their dad had prepared small booklets to brief them on the game before they started, but unfortunately, it was still too complicated, and they gave up after 10 minutes.

Finally we got around to the Karaoke itself. Choosing characters for each person was a great way to get into the mood of the game. The first game we played, we used Karaoke Revolution 2, which allows you to alter just about everything about your character’s appearance, from facial hair, to build, to absurd costumes (read: the bear costume). We were also able to choose the level of difficulty. Since all of us except for Matt had some training in singing, he stayed on the easy setting and the rest of us did medium or hard. Sarah started off the competition, and she set the bar for the rest of us. Even on the “hard” setting, she racked up tons of points. I guess I didn’t learn anything from her, because when I went, I didn’t adopt the straight tone she took when she sang. I soon found out that was a mistake. If you use any kind of vibrato, or do anything musical at all, you go over or under on the pitch meter, and you don’t get as many points. I also quickly found that I didn’t know the lyrics to some songs nearly as well as I thought I did.

The best part of the night came when Matt started his turn. Before the words even came up on the screen, he was singing in a high falsetto doing a kind of vocal roller coaster. We all laughed, but then he continued to sing the whole song in his soft, airy falsetto. We weren’t laughing by the end of his round. His falsetto method worked - he passed all of us up in points!

We were a little better prepared for the second round. We started singing like robots, and carrying out the notes for long stretches like you’re supposed to. I even gave falsetto singing a shot, and I was raking in the points until I had to stop singing because we were all laughing so hard. Natalie really got the hang of it, and she rocked “Wind Beneath my Wings” with over 30,000 points.

Overall, we loved it. We alternated between laughing and cheering for each other all night. The score didn’t matter very much since the game isn’t really about singing, just like Dance, Dance revolution isn’t really about dancing. Overall, version 2 is a much better game, but the first version still has some great songs. Hopefully it won’t be too long until we get invited back for a rematch.

Our hosts let us know that there is also a version of the game that allows you to sing and dance simultaneously. I can’t imagine the unhuman powers of concentration you would need to pull this off, but the option is there.

A few months ago, Josh was in Texas for a gaming conference in Dallas, and he decided to swing down to Austin and surprise us. While he was here, he taught us a great partner game for playing against another couple called Tichu. We took a regular deck of cards and drew on a few of them to create the four special cards in a Tichu deck. Josh teamed up with Jordan, and I braced myself for a thrashing.

Surprisingly, we won.

I chalked it up to beginner’s luck, but then we started playing other couples. I mentioned that we had some success against other couples that we introduced the game to, but the truth is that we never lost.

Until a couple of weeks ago, that is.

We had figured out that whenever we taught the game to a new couple, they didn’t have much of a chance against us b/c we were so much more familiar with all of one-off rules. But the next time we got together with the couple that we game with the most, we decided to split into teams of men vs. women. The women commenced trashing us hand after hand, despite our best efforts. It came down to the last hand, and we had to go for a grand Tichu if we wanted to stay in the game.

After my first 6 cards were dealt, I could see some potential, but nothing that would lead me to call a grand Tichu normally. I had no choice; I went for it. It came down to me and my wife, who had also called Tichu. We each had 3 cards left and I gambled that she didn’t have a pair higher than mine. As soon as I laid down my hand, I could see by the look on her face that it was over. She trumped my pair and then played her last card for the win. The points were totalled and we ended up with:

Women: 500+ Men: - 85

Time for a new partner game…

It’s not the snoring.
It’s not that I don’t help out around the house.
It’s not even the incessant stream of poor jokes.
Although, I’ve never had her rank any of those concerns. But last weekend I realized that the complaint I hear most often from her is one I may be starting to agree with.
My wife doesn’t get to come to as many game nights as she should, but invariably when she does get a chance to sit down for a game the first words from her mouth are, “We’re learning another new game?”
I am sure most reasonable individuals would fully understand the good woman’s point of view. As part of my self-appointed work as a gaming geologist I bring a steady stream of new boardgames to the table. I enjoy trying new games. I read rules for entertainment. I freely admit that this extends well into the highest degree of geekiness, but it is a fact.
Last weekend, though, I had a chance to play Age of Steam with four good friends. I lost, but I remembered how great the game was. At the end of the contest, Brian pulled out his scoresheet and revealed to us that the last time we had played was seven months ago. That gap was as much my fault as anyones. Because those seven months had been filled with a slurry of brand, new games. Some of those new games were great. Some of them were worthy of a replay. But, until I listen to my wife a little more, I won’t find out how worthy they were.
So, next time she, or anyone, sits across the gaming table from me, I’m going to suggest a game we’ve all played. I’m likely to hear less complaining, and I know I will have a good time.

Thanks for playing.

I will expound more on my next contributor, but suffice it to say for now that he falls within the lowest degree of geek. I will let you meet him a little yourself, and enjoy his thoughts on games from someon with a more rational point of view.

- Victor Monreal

If you were to ask you about my gaming credentials, I’d tell you that I am a gamer by marriage, not by blood. I’ve dabbled in a few games and gotten into a select few. But, despite the paucity of my gaming experience, I do think I have something to add to goicon.org, and that is my insight into the “married double date.” Since I got married 8 months ago, we’ve had “double dates” almost once a week, and we’ve learned some valuable lessons that I thought I’d pass on in my first post. Please feel free to add your own experiences or comments.

And now, how to ruin a game night with another couple (or couples):

- Start up a game and then get so carried away talking that every time your turn comes around, the game comes to a grinding halt. Like I said above, I’m not a hardcore gamer, but when I play, I like to play! Josh has extolled the virtues of gaming as a way to break down barriers and get to know people, but if you can’t play and talk at the same time, please step away from the table. One of the longest nights of my life was when I had this very experience playing dominoes with another couple
- Lose your temper. That same night, one of the guys in the group got angry at his wife for blocking one of his moves. She didn’t have the best handle on the strategy of that game, and when she sawed him off at the knees, it didn’t move her any closer to winning. For the rest of the night he was riding her about it. It took the fun out of the game and it definitely didn’t endear any of us to that bloke.
- Get in a fight and nag your spouse. This is similar to the previous point. The couple that taught us this one didn’t yell at each other, instead they took sarcastic jabs at each other all night long. At one point he said, “You’ve been annoying me since the day you said yes!” In addition to learning the details of every annoying tick my hosts could think of, they were so preoccupied with their spat that we were effectively divided into two different conversations: us and them. It was an easy decision to head home early that night.
- Don’t follow through on your plans. A couple of weeks back, a guy I go to church with told us that we “look like a gaming couple” and then said he would call me later in the week to set up a night to get together. The next week at church he had the same story. Now it seems it’s never going to happen, and it’s just bad form to keep missing the boat
- Talk about intimate details of your marriage. Your friends may NEVER look at you the same way again
- Teach a new game and then commence trashing the other couple. We’ve been guilty of this a couple of times when we’ve taught other couples how to play a delightful little partner card game called Tichu. This game is a lot of fun, but it has a bit of a learning curve with some of its crazy rules. Instead of dividing up and giving them a fighting chance against our experience, we demolished them. We haven’t gotten many requests to play this one again. You do the math.
- Continue playing a game long after the fun has faded. Ignore the blatant signs that people are continuing to play out of sheer obligation at your own risk
- Invite them over and then don’t offer to play any boardgames with them!

What have I missed that you would add? There has to be lots more…

I could have entitled my inaugural post, “How to compromise a marriage or friendship in 30 minutes or less.” However, that would only have applied to those among you who, like myself, subscribe to the outlandish idea of trying to win games that you play.

In a Pickle is a fun word game that is played with 4 players. 4 cards are layed out in the playing area, each facing outwards from the center, and each player starts with a hand of 4 cards. Each card has a single noun on it. Throughout the course of the game, players are challenged to show that certain cards are “in”, or “on” the noun on another card. For example, “Idaho” is in the “Universe” is a sure bet, while “Reflection” on the “Past” might cause some controversy. Disputes are settled by a simple up or down vote by each of the other players. I am sure you can see where this is going . . .

What makes it interesting is that as the game goes round, players who successfully show that thier card is “in” or “on” one of the cards in the center get to lay their card on top of one of the central cards. When the 4th card is played on a stack, a “Pickle” round is begun. During this special round, each player gets the opportunity to play a card on the most recently played card on the stack, with the last successful player taking the stack. Therefore, the player to start the “Pickle” round goes last, and is most likely to win the set. That is, of course, unless the other players decide that they shouldn’t.

The first player to collect 3 stacks wins the game. Now, it requires almost no though to anticipate when a “Pickle” round (and therefore a chance at a victory point) will begin, and play accordingly so that you get to start the round. However, the intrepid player will quickly learn not to do this. You see, playing this game is alot like watching Survivor; You cant win by jumping out ahead of the pack. If you do, the others can (and will) make up arbitrary reasons why a suitcase cant be in a doghouse, even though theres a piano in the trunk. The key is to lay low. If the others find out what your up to (winning the game that is) they will drag you down and crush you.

If you like playing games for fun, then I dont want to talk to you. But you’re sure to enjoy a game of “In a Pickle”.

-Todd Freed

I admit it. There are probably more than just three degrees to such a universally accepted label for those who enjoy games. But this week, I have the pleasure of introducing you to three of my favorite game players. And each of them certainly bears a different degree of geekiness.

Without further ado, I present you the thoughts of a man who was likely doomed to be a geek simply by blood. A close relative of mine, this man has enjoyed games for a larger percentage of his life than myself. He is a ravenous afficionado of good literature. He is, like many gamers I meet, a computer scientist of sorts, and has even programmed his own small but amusing games all ready. A hard-working student, and father of 3 hilarious girls, he has still agreed to provide us with some of his thoughts each week on the state of games, books, movies, fatherhood, marriage, and probably more. He has made me laugh for as long as I have known him. So, it is with great pleasure that I present to you: Todd Bert Freed.

I’m not really a geologist.

I think I’ve been in a room with a multitude of pretty rocks once, maybe twice, in my life. I was only there because I got lost on the way to a statistics class. But I do feel that I can be considered a gaming geologist. Here’s why:

In my still relatively short career as a gamer, I have been exposed to an incredible strata of people. I’ve had the opportunity to play games with doctors, physicists, flatworkers, world travelers, machinists, nurses, electricians, bankers, politicians, religious individuals, atheists, lawyers, madmen and sane, and the list could go on. I have gamed with democrats, republicans, libertarians, socialists, conspiracy theorists, and green party members. I’m not sure if I’ve met a constitutionalist, yet. One thing has been true with almost everyone of these experiences. I have enjoyed myself, greatly.
It always delights me to meet such a cross-section of humanity, and to interact with them, if only for an evening on a equal level. I find it astonishing how many different walks of life people come from. And, more to the point, how many of those different people are willing to sit down for a time to talk, and laugh over a hand of cards, a roll of dice, or the random draw of a tile. For those moments, the world always feels a little lighter to me, a little better, and maybe just a little smaller.

For those reasons, and my own selfish desire to always have an opponent handy, I keep doing my best to spread the word. To embed the knowledge of and desire to play more games that can bring so many different layers of mankind together, if just for an hour or two. And who knows, maybe as the pips come up in a full house, my house full of gamers will find something more in common.

Thanks for playing.

My understanding of one of the marvels of the human body is that if I lose a little blood, new quantities will be produced. My understanding is even that I don’t even have to lose it, per se to have more produced. The body is just constantly replenishing itself. I’m not a medical professional, but I do know some, so I am sure you can take these preceding sentences to be scientific fact.

This weekend, I learned the importance of creating a similar process in a game group. New blood is about the only thing that made a great game night happen last friday. I will probably never know all the reasons, but almost none of the core group of players I am used to entertaining were able to make it to Game Night at Wheelers on Friday. An upstanding local gamer, whom we will call Mark, did show up right at 6:30, and the two of us got to enjoy Rio Grande Games’ new offering To Court the King.

My father and brother walked in the door about 30 minutes late, and they had brought two friends with them. We all got to enjoy an original game called Rise of Heroes that was designed by Mark. So, that was very fun to enjoy something that you might only be able to play in southeast Idaho.

Then, at 8, two more first timers made an appearance. I sat down with Mike & Kelly and we all thoroughly enjoyed games of Marvel Heroes, Midgard, and To Court the King. I will say now that the little dice rolling gem is great to fill in the gaps between longer games. Mike & Kelly were great to game with, and Kelly indicated that Marvel Heroes was going to go on his buy list. His statement about the game was that, “It has a lot more too it than I expected.”

So, I have to say thanks again to all the people who attend my game nights, and keep me entertained. More importanly, I have to say that I have relearned how important it is to keep meeting people, sharing games with them, and adding to the stable of people willing to take a chance on boardgaming with you. New blood keeps the hobby alive, keeps your strategies sharper, and makes the die rolls that much sweeter.

Tune in next week, when some new contributors will begin to bring a special brand of flavor to the site, and get ready for more updates on the upcoming Idaho Convention for Boardgamers.