Who Dares News – 25 September 2015

Games…

Well, there isn’t a huge lot. Being as we are on the doorstep of Essen news nuggets are in shorter supply than a reliable Volkswagon. However, one title coming up at the fair and something that we will be getting the opportunity of looking at in detail very soon is Race to the North Pole from Playmore games.

You might recall me taking a look at Race during this years UK Games EXPO it captured my interest not least because of its board and the use of a spinny thing! Well, unique unforeseen mechanic if you want to get technical, who we kidding its a lazy susan. Anyway, this cool feature takes what is a simple but fun little take that style game and literally mixes everything up. I can’t fault the enthusiasm of both Jouni and Tomi the creators, it was infectious at the show and I’m stoked to see these incredibly polite Finnish gentlemen living the dream. If you’re going to be at Essen go and look them up and snag a copy.

Coming Up…

Hitting in October will be our Jamey Stegmaier interview which delves into the development of the soon to hit Kickstarter Scythe and also a whole host of interesting titbits from game design, Kickstarter and game mechanics.
Podcast 26 is coming, due to a technical issue I lost an entire episode which has thrown out our release schedule, we will be recording a bumper Halloween episode for October so listen out for that.

And very exciting the podcast is now available on Stitcher Radio so be sure to check us out and rate us on there.

Thinking…

So sat pondering the games I’ve yet to review supping on my eighth cup of tea. I’m drawing a blank as to how to come at any of them.
Now you may be sitting there thinking what’s he on about, actually scrub that I’m sure you’re sitting there thinking that.

Squeezing you into my mindset, and I apologise but yes that means entering the sink hole of my brain, writing a review is hard work, well I make writing a review hard work. I could just run through an abbreviated tour of the rule book, throw in some miniature upskirt pics and then chuck in my two penneths worth of opinion at the end, that’s a review, right?

And for some it is but I don’t want to do that. I like to try and tell a story, to give you an entertaining read that will inform you as to how the game comes together and plays. I need to play the game and then play it some more, to get a handle on all of its kinks; I also like to play them with different people. I could throw a game on the table and play with myself, but I need those random crazy humans that will do things I would never have contemplated. Vampire like I can suckle on their thoughts, enthusiasms or loathings absorbing this into my cranial pot simmering them along with my opinions.

Only when all of this has happened can I begin to start fashioning my review, I often look for a hook, or a story to tell. Then I can sit down and write if I’ve done my homework it comes easy, and I’ll rattle off a thousand or so words and sit back relieved. Then I walk away, give it some distance. Upon returning, I can get down to picking out the theme or expanding on germs of ideas or removing the stuff that doesn’t fly. I’ll repeat this process at least a couple of times, until the review sings to me and tells its story I’m usually not happy.

As an example, my recent Robinson Crusoe review was gestating for weeks before I eventually settled on the final piece, it’s not that I’m a perfectionist far from that. It’s just that if I love something then I want to share my excitement playing that game in the review so that by the end you have no option but to want to play it as well.

So there’s a glimpse behind the curtain, as of now I have Codenames simmering in my noggin, rather aptly I can’t crack the puzzle of how I want to present my views. Room 25 Season 2 will probably be up next as I’ve already covered the base game, so that gives me plenty of scope for going off-reservation with that piece. I’m probably thinking about these things too much; they are just board games right? So next time you’re about to skip to the end, think about the work that may have gone into that piece and stop for a second suck on it awhile and savour the flavours.

And I’m done. All that’s now filling my brain is Pandemic Legacy and how I need that in my life.