Actualol Newsletter - May 2022 (Patreon)

Hey there patrons,

I’m going to get straight to the games this month. I went to Lobstercon at the start of May - our biannual London on Board by the Sea convention. While I was there, I played 23 games. Here’s my thoughts on each of them:

Actual Games

1. Get on Board: New York and London - Great start. I loved this game as “Let’s Make A Bus Route” and I love it even more now. I need to find a video to put it in.

2. Tutankhamun - Terrible. I hunted down this copy, because it’s a Reiner Knizia game and what a waste of time and money that was. It is void of excitement. Bites is a MUCH better take on this type of game.

3. Long Shot: The Dice Game - Lots of fun. We played this twice over the weekend. A great take on horse racing and betting. However, it has one pretty major flaw - the momentum is killed by there being too many options to pull the horses back and extend the race. I’m hoping to fix it with a simple house rule.

4. Word Slam - It was great to return to this classic party game after so many years. I love the head to head race between the teams with this one. And the creativity required to come up with the harder clues.

5. Catch The Moon - One of my all-time favourite dexterity games - Top 3, at least. It is pure stacking fun, with no needless rules or setup. A game that I can confidently recommend to anyone who likes dexterity games.

6. Dungeon Fighter (Second Edition) - We started this one too late and we were too tired to finish it, but I’m very excited by this streamlining of the original game. From what I can see, all the fun is retained, with a lot of faff stripped out. I’m keen to play it again soon.

7. Azul: Queen’s Garden - The biggest mistake of the convention. Dull, dreary, and unbearably long. You have to jump through so many hoops just to get one tile on your board. Deeply unsatisfying. You couldn’t pay me to play this game again.

8. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Pandemic) - Another really good Pandemic spinoff, that does something quite different with the format. Some of the new mechanisms are really cool, others feel a little cheap - e.g. going up tracks, which always feels like lazy design. Ultimately, the theme is a big turn off for me, so I’ll save my Pandemic-time for Iberia, Rome or Original. But if you love the theme, check it out.

9. Mind MGMT - Here’s a game where I like the mechanisms, but hate everything else about it. The batshit theme, the busy artwork, the unreadable rulebook, they all make it harder for me to teach, follow and enjoy the game. It is a great take on hidden movement games, but it could be SO much better. I need more plays.

10. High Score - Another Reiner Knizia disappointment. A series of mediocre dice rolling competitions, each with slightly different rules. It is so thin there is almost nothing to this game, and there are so many better dice games. Don’t waste your time on this - this will never be anyone’s favourite game.

11. Fireball Island: The Curse of Vulkar - After a long run of suggesting games - and inflicting High Score and Queen’s Garden on them - I needed to let someone else decide. Unfortunately they picked Fireball Island - which is utter trash. Luck + meaningless decisions + chaos + over an hour of your life  = not fun. Even the dexterity element sucks. What a horrible waste of plastic.

12. Banned Words - Back on track, Banned Words is a brilliant party game, which I talk about in this video. It replaced Trapwords for me, because it’s simpler to run. I love the challenge of trying to describe something in such an obfuscated way that you don’t hit a banned word.

13. Stinker - A creative party game that I recommended in my Cards Against Humanity alternatives video. I never get to play this game because it needs a creative group in the right mood. This time it was fun, but it wasn’t so fun that I can keep it on my shelf unplayed for another four years, so it’s leaving my collection. I’ve never quite found the perfect creative humour game. Some people don’t like the restrictions of the letters in Stinker, whereas others would shrink under the spectre of a blank piece of paper. You can’t please everyone!

14. Top of the Pops: The Game (aka MTV: The Game) - A simple but effective party game about guessing music artists, that involves quoting lyrics and using a kazoo to give clues. It’s like Blockbuster but for music. It’s not gonna win any modern board game awards, but I love the subject matter and it does the job well, just like Blockbuster does for films.

15. Riff Raff - A throwback to my dexterity games video, this is still a classic. We actually played it on Eastbourne beach, so the wind made the game even harder. A really enjoyable game - which cemented its place in its collection. (Whereas Villa Palletti has recently been ditched).

16. Relic Runners - My friend Archie bought this one in the Dutch auction for £5, an older Days of Wonder game with amazing components. It’s a really unique game that has quick turns but plenty to think about. I wish more games were made like this these days, with a shared board and a clean ruleset. After two plays now, I don’t feel the need to own it, but it’s better than most new games I try.

17. Captain Sonar - A truly wonderful game. It’s a bit of a slog to teach eight players, but I managed to do it with minimal rulebook checking! There’s just nothing quite like it. It is fragile, and requires a good group of eight that are all switched on and willing to play fair. But I’m happy to still own it for the rare moments of brilliance it can provide.

18. Pictomania - A classic drawing game that I reviewed in my Pictionary alternatives video. It’s also a bit of a complicated one to teach, but worth it after a few rounds. I still love this one - and I prefer it to the more recent “fast drawing game” Doodle Dash.

19. Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest - I’m still really enjoying this new version of Libertalia, despite its weird aesthetic. See last month’s newsletter for more on it.

20. Casting - Like Stinker, it’s another creative party game that has sat on my shelf unplayed for years. It is a bit like Unusual Suspects, but here you have to write an answer to a prompt to describe your assigned character. We had some really funny moments, but like Stinker it didn’t wow me enough to keep its place in my collection.

21. Crosstalk - A long-time favourite party game of mine that I’ve put in so many videos. I wanted to play it again in light of Phantom Ink (see last newsletter), which is very similar. We had some really great games of this at Lobstercon. I won’t be parting with this one. Does that spell bad news for Phantom Ink? I’m not sure. They are both great fun.

22. Q.E. - I still love this quirky auction game. I was testing it for my “People Who Hates Rules” video, but I decided it was a little too off-putting on the surface. If anything, this game has grown in my estimations over time. I’m excited by the concept of the upcoming expansion, and the designer’s new game “Au”, demoing at UKGE.

23. Rustling Leaves - A pleasant roll and write game from Paolo Mori. It is quick, simple and thinky - but what roll and write game isn’t? The artwork is lovely, and it’s nice that you can play a different game for each season. But, after three games, it’s just nothing special. Sure, I’d play it again. But it is so forgettable. And it doesn’t have any of the excitement or risk-taking of my personal “and-write” favourites.

New Arrivals

• Sound Box
• Gutenberg

Games I’ve been enjoying lately

• Bureau of Investigation: Investigations in Arkham & Elsewhere
• Batman: Everybody Lies

Song of the Month - Kind of Girl by MUNA

Video of the Month - They Want To Kill My Pet AITA? - Smosh

Now Watching - Here We Go (BBC)

I hope you have a great month.

Actually yours,

Jon