After a discussion about films a few months ago, in which it was revealed that I hadn’t seen The Usual Suspects (the situation has now been rectified, don’t panic), Charlie sent me a list of his office’s Must See Films. The creation of the list ran as follows: any time someone in the office hadn’t seen a film, if one of the others was morally outraged by the omission, it went on the list. They kept it within a certain number of years, and there were a few other parameters that kept some classics out of the list, but they ended up with 48 movies. It’s not perfect, but it’s an excellent starter guide for cinema. If you’ve ever not got a movie reference, it’s probably in one of these films.
Fun games this past week! I don’t think one blog post will do them all justice, but I am excited to talk about them, and I think I’ll come back to them in future.
Tzolk’in
Worker placement on steroids, Tzolk’in looks like a euro version of terrible board game classic Mouse Trap. 6 huge gears rotate as the game progresses, moving workers around the board, so when you place them in one turn, you have to consider where they’ll be when it’s time to take them off. What blows my mind about this game is the scarcity of actions available to you each turn. You’re forced to place or remove at least one worker each turn, and quite often, that scuppers your plans, because you were really hoping you could hang on for just one more round while the wheels span. That said, the options open to you for those few actions is usually massive. I think it’s love.
Some more clickbait-inspired fiction. I really enjoyed writing this, and I love the premise (heavily Ring-inspired, of course) but I don’t think it came out very well. I present it to you as a second draft, favouring productivity over perfection.
98.8% of people can’t watch this video for more than 5 seconds
“Looks like another one,” said the detective, pausing to inhale deeply from a small electronic device. It glowed in time with his breath. “What does that make it now, 10 this week?” “At least," said the technician beside him, his camera flash casting the crime scene into bright white light, “It’s the 7th I’ve worked on, and I know that there are more across town.”
It’s not hard to find good food in the UK. I met some tourists who were complaining that you can’t get good British cuisine anywhere, which I can appreciate - it’s often hard to find something that is truly “British” and not borrowed from another culture or country - but as long as you’re not too fussy about where the recipe comes from, good food is pretty easy to find. Don’t get me wrong, there’s terrible food out there too, but that’s not what this blog is about. It’s about good food! Be excited about good food!
Through The Ages recently arrived on Board Game Arena, which is our favourite website for online board gaming, so we decided to give it a go.
First up, a note about online board gaming. It’s never, ever going to be anywhere close to real life actual board gaming, in my eyes, but it’s worth being involved in anyway. The ability to get a game any time is great, and the computer-enforced rules solve all disputes. Board setup is a non-issue, and with a voice chat system of some kind, you’ll barely miss being in the same room as your opponents. I also think it’s a great way to try out games and learn them. In fact, Gear and Piston debuted on Board Game Arena, so you could try it before backing the Kickstarter campaign. Brilliant. Not a replacement for real board games, but an excellent addition. Check it out.
