I can’t believe it got here this quick, but this Saturday our meetup will have it’s first, well, meetup.  You can click the tab up top “Meetup” to get more information.  I hope to see you there.

Take the game Lost Cities.  It’s fun.  My wife loves it.  But I wonder if the game would be as fun without the expedition theme.  The game could almost be played with a regular deck of cards, you’d just have to figure out what cards are modifiers (investment cards.) 

The game is simple and it just made me wonder how much theme had to do with things.  Maybe it’s the artwork and theme together.  I guess that’s kind of what makes a game a game.  It’s more than mechanics.  And while I’m answering my own question I’ll comment that I don’t mean pre-existing themes like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings.  Obviously, those games require a strong theme, even if some of these games have lousy play.

I guess I’m saying that a game is more than moves and mechanics.  It is a totally unique product such that the whole is greater than the parts.

Only played a few games, so I’ll try and revisit this.

I like the addition of cards, compared the board game, but have a hard time with the dicefest this game quickly becomes.  Kids love it because of the miniatures.  I like the minis, but the play is a little stale.  It could be the theme.  I’m just not a World War II board game buff.

It took me a while to get the GeekGold, but I was finally able to purchase a guild on BoardGameGeek.  It was approved just a little bit ago.  Thank you to the admins and I hope will find it interesting there and here.

 Here is the Georgia Boardgames Association guild link:  http://www.boardgamegeek.com/guild/378

When you say board games people, I believe, almost always start thinking of Monopoly, Clue, or some other “standard” game out there in Wal-Mart. Why? Because that’s what’s in the store. That’s what people know about from advertising.

In my opinion, the only way you’ll ever get “big money” in board games is with lots of television, radio, and print advertising. Like video games or any other product, without advertising, they don’t grow. That does not mean they don’t grow at all, as there is some advertising out there (BGG is a major hub of it), but without Major players getting involved, believing in the future of board games, and so on, you’ll never see great success. But, again, I believe this is true of any product.

Does anyone remember commercials for “Famly Game Night”? That was Hasbro I think and those games probably sell well. Other companiies have worked hard on their brand name recognition and marketing and they to have a better chance at being successful (Cranium comes to mind.) Even in the subculture, you probably have high hopes for a game when you see FFG, Rio Grande, or Mayfair. These companies have worked hard on their name and (probably) their products.

On the issue of anybody getting into the hobby, it is a lot like video games in the early days. In fact, just as video games had to change its economic model, so will board games. That is why it is so hard to create console games today. For a paltry ten million you can make Wii games, but these keeps quality up. In the early ’80s small companies everywhere were making games, cruddy games too. I had many of them. The surplus caused a collapse. That and other factors like larger video games looking better than smaller consoles (at that time), and other factors caused a meltdown and the model had to evolve.

Boardgaming, if it is to survive, must also evolve.

I like the idea of a guy in the garage making a game. I’m trying my hand at it. It’s one of the rare things left today that I care about that I can actually have a chance at creating. I work on computers and can program, but I’ll never be able to work on video games professionally. It’s just to huge for me. The whole game built in a garage is akin to the glory days of Apple making their computer in a garage. It’s all very nostalgic.

My original intent for the thread was to try and figure out what it is that people want and how a local business could suceed, if possible. I don’t believe it’s all about offering services and these other sub-debates in this thread shed light on other factors to consider. I’m way to “scared” to sink my life savings (or good credit) into a game store after reading what I have on here, online or offline. But, I got another job anyway, which meant I probably wasn’t serious enough anyway. Entrepreneurialship is highly interesting to me.

My wife is saying she wants to play a game of For Sale, so I must stop now. Maybe I can get her to play Citadels too.

John Marchant

Georgia Boardgames Association

“Together time all the time”™ 

This was a response to a very interesting thread here.

I’ve read and asked and read about why local game stores close.  But if the Internet pricing is a large reason why (and I don’t know for sure that it is), then why do book stores keep opening?  The prices are twice that of online, but the stores are always packed, at least the big name stores (Barnes and Noble, Borders.)

Could it be the coffee shops?  Some of it probably
Is it the variety?  Lots of stuff for everyone

Is it that folks just don’t like board games that much or at least not enough to keep an industry store afloat?  Then I read a small article about board games being a number one seller:

http://www.ocolly.com/2007/08/28/current-children%E2%80%99s-toys-are-more-technological-but-board-games-still-no-1/

And I’m thinking, “but those games are the traditional games,” so it’s not that people hate board games.

I’m not asking about the online versus flgs debate; I don’t think so anyway.  At least that’s not what I’m interested in here.  It’s more about what would work.

I’m really wondering what combination of things would get someone to go to a game store.  What would make them get off their behind and go somewhere?  Would a coffee shop game store work?  Is the population of board game lovers so sparse that nothing can attract enough of them to support a local business?  If Starbucks started selling board games or having game days what would happen?

I really wonder if most folks are just too lazy to learn something new.

Interesting game.  The components are nice and the game play exciting for an abstract.  I’m a big chess fan, so I have a high tilt towards this type of board game.  I’ve played several games of Blokus and have not been able to discern any beat all moves.  The diagonal strategy towards the middle of the board is reminiscent of chess, and the corner remind one of Othello.  And, yes, of course it looks like Tetris.

 Update:  I just found Blokus Online Play.  I lost, but it was fun.  Found the original post for this here.

One son loves this, but I’m still striving to understand why everyone appears to love this game so much.  I have been told that historically it was the first of its kind.  I’m just not getting the attraction, but it is somewhat entertaining and easy for younger children, even though, it is not a child’s game.  I have been told that expansions are more fun.  I’m hoping someone can tell me the attraction.  Are other tile laying board games better?

The fact is that I just read into the directions. The first card is random, but as someone on Boardgamegeek pointed out to me, I was just wrong. Only the first one is random. Whew, I really wanted to like this game and now it looks like I can give it another chance.

I’ve played a few games of this now and while I like the game components. I’m not sure I understand why the game is rated so high.  Is it because I have only played two player games?  I’m not really getting the strategy here.  For example, the roles are random so what good does it do me to build one color or another?  About the only strategy I am discerning so far are two things.  One, because of the randomness, one must use logic to determine who might be whom and this would be better with more players.  And, two, whether or not to build large districts with good purple cards.  I have played a lot of San Juan, so I do not know, yet, if I like the random roles.