A couple of years ago I posted a list of "much better" products. The idea was to point out (technology) products that are much better than the alternatives. There's a handful of new one's I've discovered that I thought I'd share. A couple of them already get a lot of popular press/praise, but I thought I'd add my voice to the chorus. The first one, while almost universally praised, is less widely known.
Fujitsu ScanScan s510m is much better than any other
document scanning solution I've seen. I got one of these in
January and it is amazing. You insert a piece of paper, and a moment
later a double sided PDF is in a directory of my choice. It's wicked
fast. Scanning a few sheets of paper takes a few seconds. Oh, and it
comes with FineReader, which is good OCR software. So far, I've
scanned around 1000 documents numbering 4000+ pages. Having quick
full text (though not quite perfect) access to bills, account
statements, and other paperwork is revolutionary. I came into this
device with high expectations and it has exceeded them.
Wii is much better than other video game systems, for
me. For most of these "much better" claims the "for me" part is
implicit, but at some level, I am making the assertion that these
things are "objectively" better. The Wii is great, but I can see it's
not for everyone. I've had it for a little more than a year now, and
it's about as good as a game system could be for me. I don't play it
a ton, but I play it some and it's a fun diversion for a few hours a
week.
iPhone is much better than most cell phones. I didn't
say it's way better than a Blackberry, which I used to have, but it
mostly is. As of now, the Blackberry was still a better email device.
The iPhone is an ok email device and a really good device in almost
every other way. Google Maps plus a really good browser is a potent
combination. Naturally the SDK announcement makes things even more
interesting.
Friday, March 7, 2008
A couple more: Parkour and Speed Stacking
A couple more interesting and obscure hobbies: Parkour and
Speed Stacking. You can see a great deal of each on YouTube: Parkour videos and speed stacking videos.
(Read my posts from a few years ago for some context)
Speed Stacking. You can see a great deal of each on YouTube: Parkour videos and speed stacking videos.
(Read my posts from a few years ago for some context)
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Every Year Games
(I've discussed this twice before)
There's a number of games that are good enough to get pulled out every
year. For recent releases, this isn't saying much, so let's look at those that have been played in at least 7 out of the past 11 years.
Ricochet Robot and Samurai both somehow missed 2006, but have been played the other 8 of the last 9 years.
En Garde missed 2006 and 2004, but I've been playing it since 1998, so it makes the 8+ list.
Euphrat & Tigris has been missing the past couple of years and it will hopefully hit the table again in 2008, but for whatever reason I have not had the same yen for it I have in the past and while it had a good 8 year streak, it looks like 2006's omission wasn't just a fluke.
The 100% club for the past 7 years is: Knockabout, For Sale, Zirkus Flohcati, Crokinole, Princes of Florence, Electronic Catchphrase.
7 out of the past 8: Carcassonne, Cartagena, Flinke Pinke and missed this year for the first time: Vinci, Traumfabrik, Lord of the Rings.
Take It Easy had a 7 year streak from 1999-2005 and hasn't come back since, but it's likely to be back in 2008.
Set has been intermittent, missing 1999, 2001, 2004, and 2005, but being one of the "old" games, it's gotten to 7.
Overall, I continue to like the "year metric" and the "MonthMetric" as measures of gaming quality and longevity.
There's a number of games that are good enough to get pulled out every
year. For recent releases, this isn't saying much, so let's look at those that have been played in at least 7 out of the past 11 years.
10 out of 11
- RoboRally. This has been played every year, except I missed in 2004. This is the game that really got me into board gaming.
- Call my Bluff. This still gets played every year, going on 10 years since I discovered it.
9 out of 9
- Basari. This was a wedding present and while it doesn't get a ton of play (only 13 plays) it gets pulled out consistently, year after year.
- Ra. One of my all time favorites, and I expect it to stay on the 100% list for a while.
- Apples to Apples. A party game that is successful with all but the most curmudgeonly.
8 out of 8
- Medici. One of the greatest "pure" auction games ever.
- Can't Stop. It's quick and approachable and likely to stay on the list for a long time.
- Speed. At 60ish seconds per game, I make sure to play this on New Years' Eve if I haven't already that year.
- 6 nimmt!. Another regular winner, in no small part due to its effective accomodation of 6 players.
- Igel Argern. Fast fun filler.
- Battle Line. One of my favorite 2-player games of all time.
8 out of 9 or more
Ricochet Robot and Samurai both somehow missed 2006, but have been played the other 8 of the last 9 years.
En Garde missed 2006 and 2004, but I've been playing it since 1998, so it makes the 8+ list.
Euphrat & Tigris has been missing the past couple of years and it will hopefully hit the table again in 2008, but for whatever reason I have not had the same yen for it I have in the past and while it had a good 8 year streak, it looks like 2006's omission wasn't just a fluke.
7+ out of the past 11
The 100% club for the past 7 years is: Knockabout, For Sale, Zirkus Flohcati, Crokinole, Princes of Florence, Electronic Catchphrase.
7 out of the past 8: Carcassonne, Cartagena, Flinke Pinke and missed this year for the first time: Vinci, Traumfabrik, Lord of the Rings.
Take It Easy had a 7 year streak from 1999-2005 and hasn't come back since, but it's likely to be back in 2008.
Set has been intermittent, missing 1999, 2001, 2004, and 2005, but being one of the "old" games, it's gotten to 7.
Overall, I continue to like the "year metric" and the "MonthMetric" as measures of gaming quality and longevity.
Games of the year, 2007
Last year, I did my personal "game of the year" for several categories, and I'll do it again:
Factory Fun
This may be skirting the line of what constitutes light/filler. If you think it's over the line, the award should instead go to Felix: Cat in the Sack, and the honorable mention to Toppo.
Race for the Galaxy
Race is sufficiently exceptional it does deserve the two awards it
gets here. No other 2-player stood out this year, but classic
favorites Blue Moon and Knockabout deserve honorable mentions.
Go Away Monster!
Of the 27 games I played with my 3-year-old, 11 of them were this
game, making it a clear winner. Her and my other favorites in this
are include Monza and Who Lives Where?. Zof im
Huhnerhof also gets an honorable mention for being really neat.
Race for the Galaxy
Unambiguous and amazing. This game is likely to rapidly ascend to top-10 of all-time status. Honorable mention: Notre Dame
Descent
Still amazing.
Light Game/Filler
Factory Fun
This may be skirting the line of what constitutes light/filler. If you think it's over the line, the award should instead go to Felix: Cat in the Sack, and the honorable mention to Toppo.
2-player game
Race for the Galaxy
Race is sufficiently exceptional it does deserve the two awards it
gets here. No other 2-player stood out this year, but classic
favorites Blue Moon and Knockabout deserve honorable mentions.
Kids/Family
Go Away Monster!
Of the 27 games I played with my 3-year-old, 11 of them were this
game, making it a clear winner. Her and my other favorites in this
are include Monza and Who Lives Where?. Zof im
Huhnerhof also gets an honorable mention for being really neat.
Eurogame
Race for the Galaxy
Unambiguous and amazing. This game is likely to rapidly ascend to top-10 of all-time status. Honorable mention: Notre Dame
Amerigame
Descent
Still amazing.
2007 Games Summary
- 256 games played
- 25% bi-weekly group
- 21% Gathering
- 13% Home
- 8% Work
- 8% UG semi-annuals
- 25% Other
- 25% bi-weekly group
- 153 titles played
- 73 new-to-me titles played
- 78 sessions
- 38% Home
- 20% Bi-weekly group
- 12% Work
- 9% Gathering
- 3% UG semi-annuals
- 18% Other
- 38% Home
- ~93 hours
- 170 opponents
Groups Breakdown
Bi-weekly gaming group
25% of games played
34% of titles played*
20% of sessions
17% of opponents
Gathering
21% of games played
25% of titles played*
9% of sessions played (each day counted separately)
38% of opponents*
Gaming at work
8% of games played
11% of games played*
12% of sessions
18% of opponents*
Gaming at home
13% of games played
10% of titles played*
38% of sessions
5% of opponents*
UG Semi-annual Events
8% of games played
12% of titles played*
3% of sessions
12% of opponents
* Percentages could add up to more than 100, since the same title/opponents can
occur in different groups
Top Games
Top 10 games (by my own "hot games" metric) for 2007
10) Loopin' Louie
9) Antike
8) Ra
7) Princes of Florence
6) Felix: Cat in the Hat
5) Um Krone und Kragen
4) Factory Fun
3) Descent
2) Notre Dame
1) Race for the Galaxy
Fives and Dimes
- 10+
- Race for the Galaxy (18 plays)
Go Away Monster! (11 plays) - 5+
Factory Fun (7 plays)
Notre Dame (5 plays)
Toppo (5 plays)
Felix: Cat in the Sack (5 plays)
Speed (5 plays)
Top games by sessions are exactly the same, in the same order.
Top games by time spent playing are:
Descent, RftG, Notre Dame, Factory Fun, Princes of Florence and Ra
MonthMetric
1) Go Away Monster (6 months in 2007, 7 ever)
2) Factory Fun (4 months in 2007, 5 ever)
3) Notre Dame (4 months in 2007, 4 ever)
4) Monza (4 months in 2007, 4 ever)
... new inductees to the MM>=10 list ...
5) Blue Moon (2 months in 2007, 11 ever)
6) Light Speed (2 months in 2007, 10 ever)
7) Flinke Pinke (1 month in 2007, 10 ever)
8) Samurai (1 month in 2007, 10 ever)
Top Opponents
Of the top 25 opponents (by number of games)
10 are regular attendees of the bi-weekly group
4 live in California
3 are other local gamers (not attendees of the bi-weekly group)
2 are family members
2 are co-workers
1 each from NY, WA, PA and TX
Year over Year
Year Games New Diff Ses Ppl
1997 ~30
1998 ~100
1999 ~150 63
2000 301 112 141 126 129
2001 712 172 266 175 165
2002 650 161 279 163 241
2003 552 128 272 129 180
2004 470 80 212 112 216
2005 429 92 208 124 236
2006 365 84 205 83 216
2007 256 73 153 78 170
First Derivative (year over year differential)
Years Games New Diff Ses Ppl
2000-2001 +136% +54% +89% +39% +28%
2001-2002 - 9% - 6% + 5% - 7% +46%
2002-2003 - 15% -20% - 3% -21% -25%
2003-2004 - 15% -48% -22% -13% +20%
2004-2005 - 9% +15% - 2% +11% + 9%
2005-2006 - 15% - 9% - 1% -33% - 9%
2006-2007 - 30% -13% -25% - 6% -22%
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Gaming impact of children
Having children seriously reduces the amount of gaming one gets to do.
They're really worth it, but it's a big impact. That's all well and
good to say, but let's see some numbers.
First of all, to correct for annual events and the like, I looked at a
sliding window of 365 days. Prior to having kids, it was somewhat
variable, but going into 2004 it was pretty steady at around 550 games
every 365 days. Then, the drop. In the first year of my daughter's
life, I fell below 400 games/year and it gradually climbed back up to
about 450 when my son came along. Let me tell you, the second is a
bigger impact than the first, and the numbers bear me out, both as a
percentage and as an absolute value. In the first year of my son's
life, the rate fell to 266/year and hasn't recovered much since. So:
On the flip side, my daughter is ranked 4th among people I play the
most games with for the year so far (in the top 75 overall), after
three game night regulars. And that's only games played according to
the essentially correct rules, and to completion. With her, currently
age 3, the big hits are Go Away Monster!, Monza, Who Lives Where? and
any "daddy game" she can get her hands on. Plus, she's become a very
good rules explainer. The other day she taught me the full rules to
Karambolage, exactly correctly and very clearly. Hopefully, as she
gets older the interest will remain.
They're really worth it, but it's a big impact. That's all well and
good to say, but let's see some numbers.
First of all, to correct for annual events and the like, I looked at a
sliding window of 365 days. Prior to having kids, it was somewhat
variable, but going into 2004 it was pretty steady at around 550 games
every 365 days. Then, the drop. In the first year of my daughter's
life, I fell below 400 games/year and it gradually climbed back up to
about 450 when my son came along. Let me tell you, the second is a
bigger impact than the first, and the numbers bear me out, both as a
percentage and as an absolute value. In the first year of my son's
life, the rate fell to 266/year and hasn't recovered much since. So:
- First child: 30% drop (then up 10% after 2 years) (-150 games/year)
- Second child: 40% drop (-175 games/year)
On the flip side, my daughter is ranked 4th among people I play the
most games with for the year so far (in the top 75 overall), after
three game night regulars. And that's only games played according to
the essentially correct rules, and to completion. With her, currently
age 3, the big hits are Go Away Monster!, Monza, Who Lives Where? and
any "daddy game" she can get her hands on. Plus, she's become a very
good rules explainer. The other day she taught me the full rules to
Karambolage, exactly correctly and very clearly. Hopefully, as she
gets older the interest will remain.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Hot at the Gathering
In past years, I've posted about what the "hot games" (even if my
opinion didn't line up) were at the Gathering. Here's my list of what
I perceived as having a lot of people talking about it and playing it.
Notre Dame. Almost universally, when I asked people "What have
you played and loved?", this was the first response. There were
several copies at the event which meant it was easy to get a chance to
play, and there were often multiple copies in play. That said, there
were people who weren't totally impressed, and the buzz around this
one wasn't of the magnitude of Power Grid a few years ago, and
certainly not of Puerto Rico, back in 2002.
Descent. This was a bit of a surprise, since it's so different
from most of the other games played at the Gathering. But, this got
played a great deal, often with 2 or 3 games going simultaneously. I
heard some went as long as 8 (!) hours. I played twice, neither over
3 hours, and both were a lot of fun.
Race for the Galaxy. This didn't get as much play, because
there were only two prototypes, but most who played it liked it a lot,
and everyone I spoke to thought the art was stunning.
Wikinger. This got a lot of play, with reasonably positive
reactions. I heard from several people that the advanced version is
better, which I did not try.
Caylus Magna Carta. There was only one copy (maybe 2?), but it
was almost universally positively received with most of the comments
similar to mine.
Pillars of the Earth. This got a lot of play and was generally
quite well received, but it was almost never at the very top of
people's lists of top games they played.
Through the Ages. I didn't get to play this, but it saw a fair
amount of play, and the reactions from those who did seemed to be
extremely positive in general. At least a couple people declared it
their favorite game ever.
Zooloretto. This got a lot of play at the beginning, and some
continued play later, and was well liked, but not by everyone.
Thurn und Taxis Expansion. This also got a lot of play
throughout the week and was often on people's "top lists".
Colosseum. There was one copy of this and it got played a lot,
and was well liked in general, but it also seemed to rairely make it
near the top of people's lists. A lot of the comments around this
seemed to express roughly, "it deserves a few more tries before I have
a final opinion".
Arkadia. This didn't get played much at all until late in the
Gathering, when both the copies there were often continuously in play.
Most people liked it and several said it was among the best.
Objet Trouves. Another "showed up late" hit, this party game
got a lot of play in the last few days and was mostly well liked by
those who played.
A few other games that had reasonably positive buzz, but of lower overall magnitude: Huang Di, Phonecia, Quirkle, Animalia. I'm sure there were others that I didn't play that got some positive buzz, but I don't recall them now.
opinion didn't line up) were at the Gathering. Here's my list of what
I perceived as having a lot of people talking about it and playing it.
Notre Dame. Almost universally, when I asked people "What have
you played and loved?", this was the first response. There were
several copies at the event which meant it was easy to get a chance to
play, and there were often multiple copies in play. That said, there
were people who weren't totally impressed, and the buzz around this
one wasn't of the magnitude of Power Grid a few years ago, and
certainly not of Puerto Rico, back in 2002.
Descent. This was a bit of a surprise, since it's so different
from most of the other games played at the Gathering. But, this got
played a great deal, often with 2 or 3 games going simultaneously. I
heard some went as long as 8 (!) hours. I played twice, neither over
3 hours, and both were a lot of fun.
Race for the Galaxy. This didn't get as much play, because
there were only two prototypes, but most who played it liked it a lot,
and everyone I spoke to thought the art was stunning.
Wikinger. This got a lot of play, with reasonably positive
reactions. I heard from several people that the advanced version is
better, which I did not try.
Caylus Magna Carta. There was only one copy (maybe 2?), but it
was almost universally positively received with most of the comments
similar to mine.
Pillars of the Earth. This got a lot of play and was generally
quite well received, but it was almost never at the very top of
people's lists of top games they played.
Through the Ages. I didn't get to play this, but it saw a fair
amount of play, and the reactions from those who did seemed to be
extremely positive in general. At least a couple people declared it
their favorite game ever.
Zooloretto. This got a lot of play at the beginning, and some
continued play later, and was well liked, but not by everyone.
Thurn und Taxis Expansion. This also got a lot of play
throughout the week and was often on people's "top lists".
Colosseum. There was one copy of this and it got played a lot,
and was well liked in general, but it also seemed to rairely make it
near the top of people's lists. A lot of the comments around this
seemed to express roughly, "it deserves a few more tries before I have
a final opinion".
Arkadia. This didn't get played much at all until late in the
Gathering, when both the copies there were often continuously in play.
Most people liked it and several said it was among the best.
Objet Trouves. Another "showed up late" hit, this party game
got a lot of play in the last few days and was mostly well liked by
those who played.
A few other games that had reasonably positive buzz, but of lower overall magnitude: Huang Di, Phonecia, Quirkle, Animalia. I'm sure there were others that I didn't play that got some positive buzz, but I don't recall them now.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Buy, Maybe, No Buy
Of the new-to-me (and mostly new-since-Essen) games I've played, I
broke them down into three categories: Buy, Maybe and No. Within
maybe there's some more likely than others. Several of the "No"
games are quite good, just not for me.
Buy:
Maybe:
No
broke them down into three categories: Buy, Maybe and No. Within
maybe there's some more likely than others. Several of the "No"
games are quite good, just not for me.
Buy:
- Race for the Galaxy: I can hardly wait
- Caylus Magna Carta: For me, standard Caylus will be completely obsolete
- Notre Dame: Good to see Alea "back on track"
- Friedemann's auction prototype: Can't say more
- Baumeister von Arkadia: A surprise hit
Maybe:
- Capes & Cowls: Fun, I love the theme, almost certainly will get it
- Volle Wolle: Yet another entertaining Zoch dice game. Probably worth it.
- Colloseum: Probably. But not definitely.
- Thurn & Taxis For Power & Glory: Probably, but I'm not sure I play enough T&T to make this worthwhile.
- Pillars of the Earth: 3 or 4 years ago, this would have been a definite yes, probably a buy still
- Tumblin Dice: probably too large/expensive, but fun
- Huang Di: probably not a buy for me, but it's interesting and fun
- Truffel Schnuffel: Cute kids game from Haba, but if I bought everything with that description, I'd be overrun
- Sakkara: Interesting, but broken without a rules fix, could be quite good with a fix
- Zooloretto: Fun, but maybe not enough to justify the shelf space
No
- Wikinger: For me, it didn't hang together well enough
- Guatemala Cafe: Left me cold
- Portobello Market: Short, not interesting enough.
- Sudoku Challenge: Some game there, but not enough
- Dragon Parade: Cute, but nothing striking.
- Jetzt schlagt's 13: Mundane.
- Stonehenge: I'd like to play the other three games, but the two I tried weren't "enough".
- Nomads of Arabia: I didn't feel like there were enough choices
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Newly played at the Gathering, Brief Comments, Tuesday
Some quick impressions of games played...
Guatemala Cafe: Not bad, but didn't impress me. Somehow reminded me of Santiago, which I also wasn't so fond of, but that may be superficial.
Notre Dame: Has that "great" feeling. It will take a few more plays to be sure, but midway through the first turn it's got that feeling. Interesting options, engaging. It's got a little bit of multi-player-solitaire quality, but if you (like me) don't think that's so bad, this is really worth a try.
Animalia: Oh what a shame this isn't generally available. The art is spectacular and the game is a really good filler.
Wikinger: Didn't do it for me. A lot of people seem to like it more than I do. A bit to calculating without enough fun.
Thurn & Taxis: For Power and Glory: Not so much an expansion as a different (but similar) game that can be played with many of the same components. If you like standard T&T, you'll probably like this, but it's different enough to feel like a distinct game, even if they have many similarities.
Caylus Magna Carta: All of the good parts of Caylus, without all of the length. This is great.
Portobello Market: It's short. It's not bad, but it's not especially interesting either.
Nomads of Arabia: I didn't find many interesting choices and it's a lot of dice rolling, and not in the good way.
Settlers of Catan Dice Game: Cute, good dice game, but if I want to play a Yahtzee-like game, I'll probably stick to To Court A King or Kniffel Duell (Cosmic Cows).
Race for the Galaxy: This is still outstanding. The proofs of the art for the production version are jaw-droppingly good.
FF auction prototype: I can't say much more than that I played a really good Friedemann Friese light auction prototype.
Guatemala Cafe: Not bad, but didn't impress me. Somehow reminded me of Santiago, which I also wasn't so fond of, but that may be superficial.
Notre Dame: Has that "great" feeling. It will take a few more plays to be sure, but midway through the first turn it's got that feeling. Interesting options, engaging. It's got a little bit of multi-player-solitaire quality, but if you (like me) don't think that's so bad, this is really worth a try.
Animalia: Oh what a shame this isn't generally available. The art is spectacular and the game is a really good filler.
Wikinger: Didn't do it for me. A lot of people seem to like it more than I do. A bit to calculating without enough fun.
Thurn & Taxis: For Power and Glory: Not so much an expansion as a different (but similar) game that can be played with many of the same components. If you like standard T&T, you'll probably like this, but it's different enough to feel like a distinct game, even if they have many similarities.
Caylus Magna Carta: All of the good parts of Caylus, without all of the length. This is great.
Portobello Market: It's short. It's not bad, but it's not especially interesting either.
Nomads of Arabia: I didn't find many interesting choices and it's a lot of dice rolling, and not in the good way.
Settlers of Catan Dice Game: Cute, good dice game, but if I want to play a Yahtzee-like game, I'll probably stick to To Court A King or Kniffel Duell (Cosmic Cows).
Race for the Galaxy: This is still outstanding. The proofs of the art for the production version are jaw-droppingly good.
FF auction prototype: I can't say much more than that I played a really good Friedemann Friese light auction prototype.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Friedemann charms a 2-year-old
I took my daugther down to the gaming area to say hi to some people
and introduced her to Friedemann Friese, the famous green-haired game
designer. She was a bit cautious at first, but was clearly fascinated.
When I took her back up to the room, she told my wife: "I saw
Friedemann with his green hair. I was a little bit scared, but I
wanted to play his game."
The next morning, when we went downstairs again, he wasn't around and
she asked, "Where is Friedemann with his green hair?" Finally, this
morning when we went downstairs, he was there and she declared,
"There's Friedemann all the way over there. Let's go over there."
So, I've started lobbying Friedemann to design a children's game. :)
and introduced her to Friedemann Friese, the famous green-haired game
designer. She was a bit cautious at first, but was clearly fascinated.
When I took her back up to the room, she told my wife: "I saw
Friedemann with his green hair. I was a little bit scared, but I
wanted to play his game."
The next morning, when we went downstairs again, he wasn't around and
she asked, "Where is Friedemann with his green hair?" Finally, this
morning when we went downstairs, he was there and she declared,
"There's Friedemann all the way over there. Let's go over there."
So, I've started lobbying Friedemann to design a children's game. :)
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