Reply To: The Arrival of Steve

[s-m-r]

Hell yeah, Bermuda Triangle was a blast. I’m going to track down a copy of my own some day soon…It’s definitely a game I want to use to rope in the guys from the band for some board games. Seems like it would be a cool game for my nieces and nephews to play, too. I’m sure they’d dig the magnetized ships.

And you forgot to mention our mid-day round of Settlers of Catan, and the game BANG! We kicked off board gaming on Saturday night with a two hour or so session. I repeatedly sounded like a strangled Mario while screeching out “MANCATO!” or “SCHIVATO!” and laughing maniacally. Good times.

This trip definitely turned out to be focused on board games, and I was happy to see you all were such fans as well. They’ve pretty much dominated my spare time lately, considering I have only a couple months to realize my 2010 goal of publishing one of my own designs. The game design class I’m teaching starts this coming Sunday, and I’m stoked…!

And although I only had a chance to show you the games I brought and we had too large a group to play them, here’s a brief run-down of the prototypes I had in tow (…only because you invited the descriptions, Thom…).

Death Before Dishonor: Mule, you may remember this from playing at Curtis’ house a while back. It’s a martial-arts-themed strategy game similar to two-player Tetris. Players are sensei of rival martial arts schools, and use an array of fighters to defeat their opponents through artful maneuvering and well-placed attacks.

Pipeline: A two- or three-player building/tile-matching game where you earn points for connecting trails and loops of cables and sockets. Much like Dominos and with similarities to Carcassonne (but much easier to pick up and play).

Bunnies vs. Gophers: A two-player strategy/race game. Bunnies try to race across the garden one direction, while gophers are rushing to the other. In the middle is Farmer Jeb, trying to squash both varieties of varmint. Fortunately, there are plenty of Burrows to jump into to escape harm…It’s just not easy to know where you’re going to turn up when you pop back out. My first-ever board game design.

My Pet Robot: Two to four Players are tinkers who construct their own robots to complete various tasks and earn points. It’s a fast-paced card game featuring lots of cut-throat player sabotage and action, but still deep enough to reward well-planned strategy. Personally, I think this one has the most promise so far.

School of Medicine – 1898: Players are grave-robbers hired by aspiring medical students of “a prestigious medical school in Baltimore” at the eve of the 1900’s. Chase after cadavers using your strength, cunning, and search skills while dodging the cops. Cash in your cadavers to earn points and money, and use special pick-ups along the way to make your job easier or sabotage the other players. My most recent game.

Thanks again for your hospitality, T and Guido. It’s comforting to know there are actually decent places in the state of New York. 🙂

Thom, I may end up contacting you soon to discuss artwork for some of these other designs in the near future…Stay tuned.