Playing the Top 100: Tichu and Orléans

First I want to thank all of my friends that have offered to find me games, started trying to find me games, helped out with strategies, and most importantly played games with me. We're 5% of the way home people. It's all downhill from here. I also wanted to clarify something that may have been misconstrued in my earlier writing. I'm not limiting myself to playing these games once (though once may be enough for some) and I'm also willing to play other games that are not on the list. I just want to get the top 100 in by year's end.

 Also, if you're interested in playing a particular game with me because it is your favorite thing and live in the metro, let me know of Facebook. Let's set something up. Additionally also, I have requested with the guys that we Twitch stream Battlestar Galactica. You should watch, it's the game that sort of brought our group together and our games are a blast.

This has been pretty fun so far. I really like goals and this has given me a reason to play some things towards which I would not normally gravitate. Tonight I talk about one of those and it is not Tichu. Tichu and I love each other. We are old friends. Tichu knows where it sits in my top 10 list, it is one of the games that regardless what time it is, I will play. My Tichu partner and I have been playing
together for what I would estimate is a couple of years now and we love it. Probably a little too much.

Eminent Domain: Microcosm, by Seth Jaffee

"Microgame" is an ambiguous term in the tabletop gaming world. It's kind of an "I know it when I see it" thing - Love Letter (16 cards) is definitely a microgame, and so is Tiny Epic Kingdoms (lots and lots of cubes and boards and pieces), but I don't often hear folks call Coup a microgame, even though it comes in the same size box as TEK and has fewer cards than Love Letter (albeit with some chips and other little boards).

I admit confusion at what constitutes "micro", but I still use the word to describe those things that definitely are a game in a small package. Not all microgames are created equal, and in a Kickstarter-led world of reducing components and size and weight to reduce shipping and printing costs, there's a whole host of games that are playable, but fit squarely in the "flash in the pan" variety. 

Not so with Eminent Domain: Microcosm. At 34 cards and about a playmat's worth of table presence, ED:M could absolutely be called a microgame, but I'd rather call it a great game. Just like its macro predecessor, Eminent Domain, there's nothing micro about the depth of choices and the various paths to victory that emerge during play. The experience lives up to everything I expect from larger, deeper two player games like Patchwork and Akrotiri, and for this I say it's one of my favorite games of the year! 

Gen Con 2014 Designer/Publisher Speed Dating Coverage

Gen Con, aptly nicknamed "The Best Four Days In Gaming", is an event of such size and scale that it can't be experienced fully in one visit. It's the only place I know where you can find anything you'd want from the gaming world.

Of the many events scheduled during Gen Con, "Designer/Publisher Speed Dating" is among the most interesting. James Mathe and his team have created an event designed to provide game designers the chance to demo their games for publishers large and small, and to do so in a structured, rapid-fire environment that promotes professionalism and efficiency. 

I got permission from James to cover the Saturday evening edition of the event, and arranged a series of interviews with game designers Drake Philyaw and Kelsey Domeny (Two Penny Games) and with publishers Jeff and Nathan Cornelius (Cosmic Wombat Games) and Daniel Hadlock and Seth Jaffe (Tasty Minstrel Games).

Eminent Domain, By Seth Jaffee

So tall. So commanding.

Eminent Domain is absolutely one of my favorite deckbuilding games, and I've played a TON of them.  Just look at that box - it's gorgeous, and the inside looks even better. The cards are glossy, the tokens are round as an apple and smooth as a baby's bottom. Even the cardboard pieces are thick and heavy in a way that reminds you of a nice walking stick on a long hike.

This one's got everything I love about deckbuilding games, and very little of the things I don't like, and for that reason it wins the "favorite game I discovered in 2013" award that I definitely didn't just make up.