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I answer questions from my patrons about games and life.
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[@naradahess9913]

Games for kids: Sushi Go, Hey That's My Fish, Cartegena, Rat-A-Tat Cat. There's also the classic games Labyrinth and Enchanted Forest. We have played these with kids and grandkids. Try them with your neice and nephew, Jon! (IMHO they are also good adult games with their own challenges.)

[@nihlify]

The only house rules I use are the ones that speed up the games without changing much about the gameplay. Like in Carcassonne we sometimes draw the tiles at the END of your turn. That way you just get more time to think where to lay it as the other people do their turns. Especially if you got a lot of "thinkers" in the game I can recommend this.

[@AndrewPepperstone]

I think that is how BGA runs the game, which has the potential to decrease time between turns.

[@MichaelNerman]

Cards Against humanity can be a good game with a little work. I took sandpaper to cards I didn't like, either because they were hurtful, or just weren't funny. Once I scratched off the words it left a rough texture I could write on with pencil. My friends and I brainstormed ideas to replace them, and periodically revisit to cycle out cards because they've gone stale. I call it Cards for Hilarity.

[@sporknaut]

This is a great Q&A! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I completely agree with your words on the lingo of board game types! My biggest peeve is specifically with "euro games." That's such a huge genre now that's been adapted and added to, so now it means almost nothing. Worker Placement and Deckbuilding are actual mechanisms in the game that help me understand what it's like to play.

[@SergioLopez-el5pp]

Yes! I’ve been waiting for your next video.

[@MerlinsManor]

As relates to the question about game terminology, I am actually planning on beginning a series of videos soon where I go over different game mechanics and then list 4 or 5 games that do that mechanic well.

[@j.c.mosier7981]

Great video. Thank for sharing the story about your proposal. "Adaptation" and "Garden State" are not pretentious!

[@MinimumViablePicnic]

My husband and I got engaged after 13 years together also. He came into the room acting so strangely i said "what's wrong? Either someone has died or you're trying to propose to me" and he giggled and said "no one died"🥰

[@zmollon]

My wife thought I was dying and also asked 'whats wrong' as I was getting onto one knee 😂

[@TomTomSGC]

That's super lovely! My wife had a bad day in the office and I tried to frame it as lets go for a walk along the sea front. It gets later and later and she turns up and is "It's late, I'm hungry, I need a Wee, can we not do this now." As I get down on one knee......Luckily she was happy and it became a very different vibe!

[@theinqov]

That's beautiful!

[@MinimumViablePicnic]

Yeah... He left me in February with a toddler and two dogs to look after on my own. Living with someone else 200 miles away. Just incase anyone was left with rose tinted glasses.

[@JosephFlemming]

PIT is not all luck! It’s almost a deduction game where you have to know when to give up collecting a certain type because you suspect player B is also now hoarding it. A similar feel to Money by Reiner Knizia. Sure it’s all trading but there is an element of press your luck and trying to guess what your opponents are going for by what they keep giving away.

[@BenBroomfield]

Pizza and games are fine in my house! LotR Confrontation was undamaged! The trick is just to give everyone loads of napkins or kitchen roll to clean their hands. 🍕🍕🍕

[@Nidhogg13]

Offhand, I think the only major house rule we have done recently was changing how food was used in Tainted Grail to avoid having to grind for more food after every few game days, because that was the one thing about the game that my wife and I were finding not-so-fun.

[@patrickmcardle1920]

Jon I'm in a similar path with beers. Not sure if it was lockdown affecting my tolerance but can't face stronger beers now. Check out the small beer company, a London based brewery. All their beers are under 2.8% so you can get through a few without feeling drunk. Pale ale is tasty.

[@actualol]

Ooh, that sounds like a great idea! Will definitely check them out, thanks 👌

[@davidboltbear147]

13:00 in the anime "after school dice clue" that talk about tabletop games (western ones) the main character made a game that is a room design game where the you get point for object you get and that staff I don't think it a really and available game but I really recommend everyone to watch this anime it

[@Nidhogg13]

That's a good show. My wife and I had fun picking out the games making cameos in the backgrounds.

[@theinqov]

I like your storytelling, and I like the way you put together your reviews. You must do a lot of planning, but it's not obvious from the videos. I noticed your most-watched video was an unexpected topic. I wonder if you can use that to help you become better known, I think more people should know about you.

[@actualol]

Thanks Sandy! Yes a lot of work, but I think it's worth it. And I am certainly trying to get creative with the videos I make to capture new audiences, fingers crossed!

[@pfcravt]

The Trekking Games are just amazing. Best gateway games.

[@mickeykwa62]

Hey, I'm not sure if you read old comments, but I think Dale of Merchants could be that sort of next version of deckbuilding that you were talking about. I think it is at least worth a look into.

[@zmollon]

Fun video with some interesting answers. Thanks :)

[@adriang6259]

As far as I know, there’s not many games about WW1, don’t know if that could be fun. You had me with “The big Lebowski” then lost me with “I didn’t like Blade Runner” Nice job with the proposal

[@rolandoa.valenzuela2756]

You hit hard with the Azul conversation! I don't like Azul or Catan in real life... to slow and dry but on an app where you don't deal with the rolling a dice and collecting the cards (catan) makes is so much faster and straight to the point.

[@MinimumViablePicnic]

I still think Catan is one of the worst games that's supposed to be good, horrendous lol. Might be fun on an app though! Ticket to ride is great on phone version, so quick and relaxing

[@zmollon]

@@MinimumViablePicnic it was a great into to modern board games. But I would only play it now if you paid me and only so I could buy actually good games.

[@keatonhawkswell5714]

It always blows my mind when people say that game design improves every year. Just last week I had someone tell me a game from 2015 was out of date.

[@CaptLoquaLacon]

Hearing you mention Arrival, have you heard of Thorny Games? They do three games that all involve language. One is about the birth and demise of a dialect, one is about sign language, and one, I think it's called Xenolanguage, is about trying to understand an alien species. I really want to see someone do play-throughs of those as the themes and concepts of them sound fascinating, but they are so different to my usual games that I have no idea if I'd enjoy them With regards to the Sims, my go to comparisons to them are Dream Home (house building/decorating) and Pursuit Of Happiness (living a life with quite tight restrictions), but it does touch on the themes I feel are absent from gaming - almost anything related to love. It's a hard thing to capture, but it seems a bit absurd when you see how many games focus on violence but what is a bigger part of people's lives? I have no idea how to design it, but it just feels like someone could do a good game about matchmaking or running an internet dating company for example. It's a shame that Dice Hate Me seem to have slowed down their development as for a while, I thought that their approach of putting out games with 'mundane' themes like beer making, chemistry, truck driving etc was really good for the hobby I have a new favourite detail for the fifth season of The Wire - the actor who played Scott Templeton (the dodgy journalist) was the director and co-writer for Spotlight, a film about the Boston Globe exposing the Catholic Church. Just kind of amuses me that a character he played and a film he made deal with the complete opposite ends of the spectrum of journalists. I feel like there could be a really good journalism game to be made, I just need to work out how to have a story develop without it being overscripted or too random. The dilemma I want players to have is the rush between breaking a story, and publishing the best version of it as that for me is an interesting balancing act of responsible journalism I reckon you should give Warhammer a try with someone else's army, just to feel what it is like, but I'm completely on board with avoiding those kind of lifestyle games where you need to collect and prepare models etc outside of playing the games. I used to enjoy Bloodbowl, but increasingly with sports games I'd sooner play them on computers where they deliver the visceral excitement, board games are much better at abstract decisions rather than instinctual ones. The pizza thing is why I sleeve cards - it saves the fussing, especially since I also (COVID permitting) can be quite relaxed about taking a game to the pub. It feels like an especially good idea since Asmodee don't have a parts replacement service any more...

[@actualol]

Yeah, Tom McCarthy is a great director - The Station Agent and The Visitor are both brilliant. You're right about Dream Home and Pursuit, I have both, but as you say there's still room for more!

[@CaptLoquaLacon]

@@actualol That's another theme we need - one about moving making! I was disappointed when I saw the reviews for Roll Camera, it came across as far too dry and abstract for me, but I see even PC games have barely tried this theme since "The Movies" from a decade or so ago...

[@AndrewPepperstone]

You mentioned Arrival as a recent film you liked, and someone mentioned Thorny Games’ new game Xenolanguage, which actually is based on Arrival and that genre of sci-if. It is shipping soon (after their Kickstarter campaign from a year or two ago).

[@DrCy616]

Cant help but stare at your watch while watching. Looks great! What’s on your wrist? :)

[@Alluvian567]

TV is such a gold mine these days. As long as the show runners have a plan and a full arc that is FUNDED up front it is amazing. I get really annoyed when they lose funding and don't finish their story. Wrap up your main story beats in your 8-10 episodes, and keep going if you get a season, but don't freaking cliffhang if you don't have funding secured. And never just make season after season not knowing when it will end. This is why I love anthologies and limited series the best. I know the story will be 'complete' (some hanging bits are fine and welcome as everything coming together is contrived).

[@yasmingoodwin9680]

I was so interested to hear your thoughts on Azul! Love that game but mind you I've only played twice

[@zmollon]

Love azul

[@andrewwalsh531]

regarding board games getting better every year....I mostly agree w/ your take on that. However, there is one specific design area of boardgaming that I think has improved by leaps & bounds & that is solo gameplay, specifically the use of an Automa for doing so. I believe this is still a fairly new game mechanism/concept (a board gaming historian could say for sure) but my impression is Viticulture: Essential Edition (2015?) was the board game that introduced the idea of an Automa for use in solo play. Since then there have been a number of great board games that have an Automa included in the box, a company was formed that specializes in designing them (Automa Factory), and designers are becoming well known for their work on Automas (Pedersen, Turczi, et al). So I think one could argue objectively that this is an area that has improved quite a bit in recent years.

[@patrickmcardle1920]

Asket clothing. Reckon you'd like it based on your typical clobber. Swedish, not many options - like good basics that don't change much. Really nice quality.

[@actualol]

Thanks for the tip! I haven't heard of them but I do like good basics and Scandanavian stuff!

[@thomaspig7684]

“Because it’s really annoying to buy something and then you’ve just got another thing to store” says the man with 300+ board games

[@Zabrix]

I proposed to my fiancé at a game night on our anniversary after telling her for months that marriage is a scam. She swore at me before saying yes lol.

[@unraveledbeerthoughts6461]

This was fun. If we ever get round to playing a game together I'll be sure to help expand the beer repretoire. 🤓. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience John!

[@Alluvian567]

Yeah, I am the same with movies, and it kind of ties into what you said you want in boardgames. I love being surprised by a movie, so I almost never rewatch them, even my favorites. Partly because my favorites ARE my favorites because they surprised me, and you can't go back and get that again. Movies like Moon, or Memento, or to stray a little, the first two seasons of Mr. Robot. Give me a well handled unreliable narrator and I am loving it. Those moments when the rug is pulled out from under you and you realize that you have not been watching what you thought you were watching but it all works out. It is so bad that I annoy my wife by talking about TV shows between episodes and telling her a new story about how this show could be about something entirely different and talk to her about it in great detail. I am happy she loves that all as well, she loves it a lot less when the unreliable narrator drifts into surrealism like the fantastic show Legion where the narrator is frankly pretty reliable, but visually 'talks' to you in metaphors that just show up on screen and nobody thinks twice about it.

[@andrewclifton185]

I am proposed to my now wife in Florence - I know the stresses and worries he he

[@nahailyenvanakkor]

Have you played Bad Company?

[@actualol]

I have! I will cover it on the channel soonish.

[@piotrduda-dziewierz957]

Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark, not Sweden, Jon! 😂🇩🇰

[@billie1438]

Thoughts on Botanik?

[@actualol]

I didn't like it, I didn't get on with the puzzle of it.

[@billie1438]

@@actualol Thanks for answering!

[@patrickmcardle1920]

It's all about pencils Jon.

[@actualol]

It is??

[@patrickmcardle1920]

So is, there is a certain satisfaction about sharpening a nice pencil. Gives you time to think and feels good. Get yourself some blackwing pencils. They can also be used in space so ye know there is that.

[@GForce4]

"Medical games...it hasn't be cracked" Pandemic?

[@actualol]

I probably edited it out for length, but I meant about running a hospital or being a doctor. You're right, Pandemic is an amazing game with a medical theme.

[@MinimumViablePicnic]

We have a few house rules for ticket to ride, or maybe a shared play style. We don't block each other and will usually discuss how to avoid clashing if it's clear we're competing for similar space. Also, no one will finish the game by playing their final trains without discussing it, nearly always we wait and keep taking unneeded colour cards until everyone is ready. Sometimes if we're feeling lucky we'll keep taking journey tickets and hope we've already done them!

[@FabioBrachtPlus]

If it works for you then by all means keep doing it, but it sounds to me like you guys should be playing cooperative games instead? In Ticket to Ride, the game is actually designed so people's paths will cross most of the time, so it can generate tension. That tension is probably the emotional core of the game: can I keep using all my turns to draw cards until I have all I need and then start claiming routes like crazy, or will my opponent(s) claim them before me if I wait too long? I really don't know what's left of the game if you remove that tension. On the other hand, in a cooperative game like Pandemic or Forbidden Island or even something very simple like Bandido, the tension resides exactly on the cooperation aspect: will we, together, be able to win? Instead of discussing in order to avoid blocking each other, in a game like this you would be talking it out how to be best "block the game" so the game doesn't win.

[@pixxelwizzard]

CAH did more to grow this hobby more than any other game. It was similar to the Chris Moneymaker effect in Texas Hold 'em. I don't like the game either, but wishing it didn't exist might be a step too far.

[@waferjuice]

man i thought u were gay the whole time bcoz u keep acting as lady characters.... shit.. didnt know u were married wow

[@URNoobish]

What an utterly ridiculous and ignorant comment 😂