Last time, we discussed two player games. But what to do if you can’t even scrounge up one other person to play with? Like most things, the answer is on the internet. Specifically, the answer is on several websites that allow players to play games online, and enforce the rules (which can help you learn that you were playing a rule incorrectly previously). I’m going to focus on just two of the sites that I use, and focus on the games that one of the sites has on it.
The first site is Boite-A-Jeux, a site based out of France that allows for a large number of games to be played. You can sign up for a free account, which permits play of all of their games. What it doesn’t allow you to do is modify any of the time restrictions when setting a game up, so if you’re a free player, all of your games will have a timeout on moves of 30 days. You also cannot write notes in the game, nor can you select your prefered color of pieces, and you’re limited to being in 20 games at a time.
The second site is Board Game Arena, which has a different selection of games (there is only 1 game that overlaps both sites that I’m aware of), and also allows free accounts. Here, free accounts cannot create tables for all of the games, but can join them. BGA (Board Game Arena), allows you to play in real time, or turn based. In both modes, you start with a bank of time, and each turn you complete adds a set amount of time to it.
Both sites will remove players if they run out of play time. On BAJ (Boite-A-Jeux), you can request a replacement player for a player who has had their time expire. The person kicked from the game has it count as a loss for them, and the new player can join a game that will not affect their ELO score. BGA allows you to skip players when they run out of time, but the game as a whole is considered a forfeit from them at that point, and everyone else is considered a winner at a percentage based on how much of the game was completed. I prefer BAJ, but I’m here to give options. BGA has both Incan Gold and Jaipur which I discussed before. Now to go to some heavier games that are on BAJ (but not BGA):
Game 1) Drinking poison is bad? Alchemists
This is an interesting blend of hedging knowledge, hidden knowledge, and logic puzzle. If you play the cardboard version of this game, it requires either a smartphone application or a player who acts as an adjudicator (and doesn’t get to play). There are 8 different ingredients, and there are 8 different “alchemicals” that can be associated with them. Each alchemical is made of three parts, one of each color (red, green, and blue). Each of those parts has two attributes associated with it: the size (small or large), and the sign (negative or positive). Through using artifacts, testing potions on yourself (and a student), and selling potions, the key is to determine what alchemical is associated with each ingredient and publish the theory. The logic system is fairly simple, a small and a large of the same color and sign make a potion. So if you mix something that has a large red negative with a small red negative, you get a negative red potion. When publishing a theory, you have the option to either claim it with a flag that’s worth points at the end of the game, or you can hedge one of the colors. So if you know that scorpion has a negative red and a positive blue, but you’re not sure on the green, you can publish a theory and hedge it on the green color. Why would you do this? Because one of the actions you can take is to debunk a theory that has been published. The method of this is different based on the Apprentice or Master variant; but in short, you debunk a theory on a specific color and if there are any flags there that didn’t hedge on the color you debunked on, they take a large reputation (part of end game scoring) hit. At the end of the game, all of the correct alchemical associations are revealed, and if you were correct (and not hedged) you score points based on the flag you placed, gold flags (of which you have 2) are worth 5 points, silver (of which you have 3) are worth 3. You will also get points based on your gold and artifacts purchased through the course of the game.
Game 2) Point Salad fun! Castles of Burgundy (Die Burgen von Burgund)
I’ve mentioned a couple of other designers in the past, and this game brings up another one. This is a game by Stefan Feld, who is known for randomness (with mitigation options being available) and point salad. I hear the question now, “What’s point salad?” Point salad is a term used to describe games in which nearly every action gets you some number of points. You put down a building – get 3 points, you completed an area – get 8 points, you took some workers – they’ll be worth points at the end of the game. The key in his games is to optimize the points you are getting for the actions you take. Castles of Burgundy is one of the more popular of Feld’s games. I prefer playing this online, as it makes the setup between phases and cleanup much easier. The game plays between 2-4 players, and scales the options available based on the number of players. This game is played by having all of the players roll 2 dice, and then in turn order use their 2 dice to take actions. The actions are as follows:
- Take a tile from the central board
- Place a tile from your personal store
- Sell goods
- Get 2 workers
- Spend 2 silver to purchase from the black market (does not use a die)
Workers allow you to modify the number you rolled by +/-1 per worker used helping to mitigate the randomness. For the other three actions, you can only take the action if the number on your die matches what you want to do. The central board has seven areas: 6 associated with the faces of the die, and one that represents the black market. Each player’s personal board also has numbers in every hex, and when placing a tile, you must match that number, be next to a tile you have already placed, and the tile you’re placing must match the color of the hex you’re placing it in. All tiles provide either an immediate effect, an end game effect, or an ongoing effect. The game is over after 25 turns, with the high score at the end being the winner.
Game 3) Sacrifice is the name of the game. Deus
Deus is a tableau building game, you start with a hand of cards and each turn you either play a card to your tableau, or sacrifice any number of cards to a deity. To play a card to your tableau, you must meet certain requirements:
- You must have a building piece for the building type on your personal board (each player starts with 2 pieces for each of 5 building types)
- Be able to afford the cost in coin and resources
- Have a space on the board where you can play the piece (two of the same piece cannot be in the same space, and you cannot play in a space that’s a barbarian village or that has an opponent’s piece in it)
If you meet those requirements, you then activate all of the cards of that type from the earliest played to the one you just played. There’s also a sixth type of building called a Temple, which only requires you to be able to afford the cost, and have a space on the board with at least one of your pieces on it. The temples will give you end game points for meeting specific goals. If you can’t build, then you need to sacrifice to one of the five gods. This is done by selecting one card, and putting as many other cards from your hand under it. The whole stack is then discarded, and you receive the bonus for the card on top. Each god gives you different items, from coins, goods, drawing extra cards, victory points, and/or more wooden buildings to place on your board. The other way to earn victory points is to surround a barbarian village with at least one military unit assisting. The barbarian village is then removed from the game, and the player with the most military units around it gets the points the village is worth. The game continues until one of two endgame criteria is met: all barbarian villages are removed from the game, or the communal supply of temples is exhausted. At that point, everyone has two final turns to score themselves some more points, and the game ends.
Feel free to invite me to a game on either of the services, I’m under the same handle there. Next time, I plan on finally writing about some games on the heavier side of the spectrum.
Comments
86 responses to “Nephilium’s Games Corner – On the internet, no one knows you’re a Glibertarian”
jumps into thread, fists on hips, chest thrust out: something, something
/Fist
how does he always have a cogent comment ready on time?
This is timely. Can anyone suggest an online game someone like me: A novice who doesn’t want to spend actual money on a magic shovel that helps me build faster or have to deal with online weirdos? (I mean– weirder than you guys!) I tried Elvenar– but it didn’t do much for me. I guess what I’m looking for is like those old SimCity games where you weren’t competing with anyone.
And by “novice” I mean I literally know jack shit about this stuff.
Thanks in advance.
If you’re looking for an online game, then generally the point is to compete with other people. If you’re looking for a long term game where you build something up, you can look towards Paradox Interactive games (Stellaris, Cities Skylines, Europa Universalis, etc.) , or you could look towards Civilization (I’m currently playing 6, and have mixed feelings about it so far). Or if you’re looking for free to play games, I would recommend Warframe (3rd person action), or Path of Exile (Diablo style action RPG).
For the love of all things, don’t start with a paradox game. Great games, but they are beyond the novice level. The civilization series is much easier to start with, if you like those and want more of a challenge then you can graduate to a paradox.
Thanks for the advice, Nephilium!
It’s not a city builder but you might enjoy Sins of a Solar Empire. Relatively simple but still fun without taking up a ton of time.
My kids, particularly my son, loved loved loved SimCity. Couldn’t get him away from it.
Other than the number one game, chess, the big board games in my family were Masterpiece, Scrabble, and Monopoly.
I have about 5gb. of Mods for SimCity4, I have blown up PCs loading some cities I built,
Great game!
BGA has traditional games you know already
I would also recommend things like the Civilization series if you like the ‘start out as a caveman and eventually build nukes’ games. Planet Coaster is a good theme park builder game, and Cities Skylines is a better Sim City than the latest Sim City.
I’m also playing Oxygen Not Included, which is a builder, but you have to manage things like gasses (O2, CO2, chlorine, hydrogen), liquids (water, polluted water, oil, and magma), ambient temperature, food, and the health and stress levels of your inhabitants. It’s a fun science-y game that’s still in development, so patches come every few weeks, but it’s currently highly playable.
No steam for me
Maybe he’s employed by Reason?
Two grandchildren today. I am having a hard time keeping up.
*goes off to make sesame chicken*
I really want grandkids, but
* grad school is delaying things
* then I’ll need to resolve the 700 mile betwixt sonny and me
“But what to do if you can’t even scrounge up one other person to play with?”
I thought the answer to that is always “play with yourself”.
Only after dark
Oops!
*narrows gaze*
And this is why we can’t have nice things…
Playing with yourself isn’t a nice thing?
Well, looks like you fucked up again, Corey and Trevor.
They know Jim or Jim knows them
“You don’t have any smokes, do ya?”
LOL
Get me some pepperoni. . .
Funniest show ever.
Well, maybe second to this.
Timely, too.
Pitter patter!
I thought your previous comment was better. 😉
Fuck Off!
Go fuck yourself, Randy!
Good comeback Sharon!
today I learned
The word plagiarize comes from the Latin word for kidnap. It shares a root with the word plague.
Plaga means to hit/wound in Greek.
“sabotage” won the etymology trophy a thousand years ago
honorable mention: “curfew”
“I don’t say sabotage. You say sabotage…”
No, the game is called Saboteur.
Norman Lloyd has a sad.
I like these
defenestration
avocado (comes from Aztec word for testicle)
sycophant (comes Greek word for fig smuggler)
clue (the name of the ball of string Theseus used so he could find his way out of the the Minotaur’s labyrinth)
http://www.businessinsider.com/words-with-interesting-etymologies-2013-10
Huh. I always thought that avocado was the Spanish word for lawyer.
The more you know.
I thought the ball of string was a clew.
The spelling changed in the 1600s- probably to make it look more French
I thought a Clew was a one sided Cleat for Sailing
And Board game Arena has Yahtzee, Checkers, Backgammon and other Traditional games, I like Yahtzee myself, easy to get a game going even with Free accounts,
Nice Job Nephilium!
Hope things went well today, Yusef. (Quit smoking! /notalibertarian)
Seconded.
Hell… it was the extreme taxes on cigarettes that gave me the motivation to quit.
I actually Smoke a Cigarillo, 2.50 a pack, in California
I love Science! I got in at 1pm and was out by 1:30, the Appt. was for 1:30.
They ended up doing a Lower Extremity Ultrasound/arterial, which means, a Good looking Milf, started at the Femoral artery next to my Dick, ans proceeded all the way to my Feet, in intervals. Every time She stopped to Whatever, I could Hear my blood through the speakers, Had I known I would have recorded it for a song part!
I feel OK right now, I’m cutting way back on Cigs and Pot, and I’ll know more in a week or so.
Thanks for the Love, my Glib Friends!
Way more worried about the cigs.
Seriously, when I was doing firefighting/EMS for a living, I had dozens of patients for whom I would have to move their cigs off their oxygen tanks to transport them. It hardly ever ends well.
However, I also know a guy who decided to kick a 15 year heroin habit and did it over a weekend. Still can’t stop smoking.
It hurts to Smoke, But I’m mentally Fucked, I have a fear of losing it for real, and Nicotine combined with the CBD from Pot keeps me level,
I’m not going to take a bunch of pills for my Brain, fortunately CBD comes in candy form.
That’s joyful news, Yusef!
There’s a math game I played when I was kid. You put 4 cards with 4 different numbers on them in a row. Using arithmetic, you have to turn the number on the left into the number on the right using the numbers in the middle.
example
3 6 2 9
3 x 6 = 18
18/2 = 9
5 2 9 3
5 – 2 = 3
9/3 = 3
There’s a variant where you can use exponents and roots.
Growing up, we had the (now long out of print) Tribulation. Fun for math geeks, but the same person (me) was bound to win all the time.
My parents bought this when I was younger. I think I remember playing it twice.
So what are you playing at BGA right now? A Glibs game would be pretty easy to set up with the format they use, just need some more peeps.
On BGA, I’m generally playing Troyes, Keyflower, Nippon, Libertalia, and Puerto Rico as turn based games (Carcassonne as well, when I can find a game open). For real time, I generally stick to Can’t Stop, Innovation, Jaipur, or Saboteur.
On BoiteAJeux, my main games are Alchemists, Concordia, Castles of Burgundy, Trajan, Deus, and Tzolk’in.
And if anyone cares, most of those other games I have plans for write ups about as well. But if you want to know what they’re about and how to play, let me know.
I looked at Carcasonne based on your review, I haven’t played it yet, I’ll reread the Rules and we can hook up, We seem to be on at the same time a lot
Thinks through what I’ve written… I don’t think I’ve written about Carcassonne yet. It’s a great game in that it’s inviting to beginners, but get’s cut throat with experienced players. There’s also a new digital version that’s pretty solid (once you turn off the stupid pretty graphics mode). If you register you get the Abbot expansion free (the earlier digital version gave you the river expansion for free).
On BGA, someone needs to be a premium player to start a table of Carcassonne.
I’m considering Premium, it’s cheap enough, and if i can play with people I know, it would be well spent, I’ll let ya know, Heck everyone
Thanks for the tips. For a future installment, go full Libertarian and recommend online gambling spots.
I used to play at seals with clubs, but I lost my tiny fraction of a bitcoin when it went under the first time.
Are You new? if so…
Fuck Off!
Nah. Eric is a grizzled veteran!
Ahh, wasn’t sure, Well,
Fuck Off Anyway! 😉
We’ve created a monster
We, Kemo sabe?
Let’s see, Tundra, MikeS, SP, Riven, EGould, Nephilium OTTOMH
And don’t forget Trshmnstr, HE is Responsible for the creation of OMM, i just run with it……..
And i ain’t quitting until the OverLords tell me to
I knew someone would call me out on that.
Naa, We already have a Fronkensteen IIRC, Y’alluns just put up with my sad attempt at frivolity,
and Office Manager Mohammed THANKS YOUUUUUUU!
^^^ Lookit Tulpa over there.
We are All Tulpa, and No one is Tulpa, LTP, 🙂
Tulpa, Tulpae, Tulpii…whats the plural on that?
https://youtu.be/JuhTQwzizDI?t=70
There’s always the wholesome fun of bored men from Eastern Europe launching garbage cans into the air.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHJRjaPfbQk
Tall Cans In The Air? Transplants got it…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEt3VsNJYyw
I haven’t seen Zoe in a Coons age, but this is pretty fun…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnWHC7B34Qw
The Chiefs are shitting the bed again in the playoffs.
I’m watching, and in my perfect world they’d both lose. However, I’m happy to see KC lose just because I was subjected to that stupid “sweater” commercial all through the holidays.
My Dad was a Chiefs fan, Playoffs? riiiiiiight, and I think I need a new keyboard, right Shift is fucking up
@ MikeS, don’t be Surprised when you get more of what you reward, HeHe
3:00 in the morning, stumble into the bathroom, take an inauspicious piss, wash hands and face with tepid tap water and stare blankly at the stranger in the mirror. With a growing sense of horror you realize that you have become a Glibertarian.
#SoaveWillNotDivideUs
(or change a flat)
If He got out of his Car (assuming he has one and knows how to drive) it might mess up his Fabulous Hair! He only exits when he’s in a Garage,
LTP
Or give us the name of his coiffurist.
Soave, Suave? I’ll just leave this one here and let it ferment. https://youtu.be/5svltdMdorw
Also: I don’t care how big a Titans fan you are. If you find yourself on national TV holding up a sign with a Titans logo on one side, DILLY DILLY on the other, and you’re an adult human being – you’re a loser.
I found a version of Baldur’s Gate that works on Windows 10. Blast from the past